The artworks by Olson Lamaj act in real contexts to overwhelm or create disorder, seducing and hypnotizing the viewer. His research could be said ‘borrow-based’, where images and situations belonging to the community are ri-elaborated becoming reflections on human existential nature. Or they represent a sort of institutional critic without any judge on social and cultural dynamics of the milieu where the artworks are shown. Far from being nostalgic or plaintive, he basically acts as a fighter than as a victim. In his work there’s always an element typical of the parody, and this represents a Lamaj’s attitude expressed in a way similar to a “grin” rather than laughing. Highlighting the ambiguity or the two faces of the same ‘coin’, in his works he uses photography, video or installation. But they merely are functional means to convey a message than structural parts of his practice. In 2012 Lamaj was a co-founder of MIZA Gallery, an artist-run-space in the heart of Tirana that plays like an exhibiting vitrine for Albanian young artists to host and develop artistic projects the lectures in order to spark and increase the debate around the Albanian contemporary art scene.
