What Glows: Erjon Hajnaj at BAYarts

We’re late to this party, but an exhibit recently closed at BAYarts–Erjon Hajnaj: My Light & Shadow—makes us wonder how many highly skilled artists are out there, operating below the radar, actively practicing their craft, either working toward their first shows or just rarely showing their work.

Hajnaj was born in Fier, Albania—one of the Balkan countries, directly across the sea from the heel of the geographical boot shape that is Italy. Inspired by his uncle Kutjim Komprencka, Hajnaj studied classical sculpture in high school. But Albania was in political and economic crisis when he graduated, and so Hajnaj came to the US in 1997. He was 20 years old. He dealt with language and all the struggles that recent immigrants face, but eventually enrolled at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he earned a BFA in painting. These days he teaches at BAYarts.

My Light & Shadow was his first solo show, after CIA. The immediately apparent and inescapable thing about his paintings is exactly what the title implies: the skill with light and dark– the chiaroscuro effect. Hajnaj paints in that tradition, sometimes capturing drama like Caravaggio, sometimes a fleeting, momentary look on the face of someone familiar, like Vermeer. The details that make the person are what glows—eyes, cheekbones, the color and folds and highlights of a blouse or skirt, the way light falls on hair. His wife and daughter appear in many of the pieces. They mix anachronistic details: Capes and crowns of royalty with computer screens and smart phones.

Hajnaj has been in a few group shows recently: Heights Arts’ show Emergent 2024 and the BAYarts iteration of THE BIG @SS @RT SHOW, which was created in collaboration with Lakeland Community College, Valley Art Center, Artists Archives of the Western Reserve, and BAYarts. He says, aside from his BFA Exhibition at the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2023, My Light and Shadow at BAYarts was his first solo show. But he’s got other prospects, including an Ohio museum whose past track record shows ongoing interest in figurative painting. So watch for that news. This certainly won’t be his last time in the spotlight, or your last chance to see what he makes glow.

Erjon Hajnaj: My Light & Shadow
July 11 – August 2
BAYarts Sullivan Family Gallery
28795 Lake Road
Bay Village, Ohio 44140