Lui Shtini

Appropriating the traditional format and compositional structure of still life painting, Lui Shtini (*1978, Kavaje, Albania; lives in Brooklyn, NY) reimagines the historical genre from a contemporary perspective, pushing it, through the unpredictable limits of animalistic boundlessness, beyond its conventional subject matters (vanitas images, floral arrangements, breakfast scenes) and symbolic meanings (the transient nature of life, the violence of consumption, etc.). In general, Lui Shtini’s works investigate the tension between the struggle of two entities, producing an energy that is at once menacing, corporeal and romantic.