Belarghes

Works

Belarghes exhibited at Galleria Gagliardi in 2012.

Belarghes, born in 1963, was born in Vlora, Albania, where he grew up in contact with art from a very young age. Arben cultivated his passion by choosing to study sculpture, drawing and ceramics first at the Art School in Tirana. He then won the competition to enter the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana where he studied from 1984 to 1988. During these formative years he created numerous sculptures in terracotta, wood and plaster; some of them were bought by the National Gallery of Tirana, others enriched some private collections in Germany, the United States and Greece. In the early 1990s he settled in Athens, where he lived for 12 years, from 1991 to 2003, during which time his artistic fervour gave rise to numerous sculptures, high reliefs, bas-reliefs and portraits in marble and bronze. In 2003, he moved to Italy and decided to settle in Lastra a Signa, a small town on the outskirts of Florence, motivated by a desire to study Renaissance artists at close quarters.

Over the years, he has taken part in various group exhibitions and competitions in Italy:

In 2004 he exhibited in the Basilica of San Marco in Florence with the "UCAI" Association.

In 2004 he took part in the "Giuseppe Pescetti" competition in Sesto Fiorentino, where he was awarded the third prize with his work Scultore gobbo.
In 2005 the Basilica of San Marco in Florence was the stage for his Prodigal Son.
He exhibited in Impruneta under the Arco dei Loggiati with the "Art-Art" artistic group.
In 2006 he won first prize overall in the 41st Lastra a Signa painting and graphics competition with his pencil drawing Fabio, l'alienato.
In 2006, in Rome, he took part in the memorial exhibition for the first anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II organised at Palazzo Maffei Marescoti.
Between October and November 2007, he held a personal exhibition of sculptures and drawings at the Spedale Sant'Antonio in Lastra a Signa, organised by the Department of Culture under the patronage of the municipality of Lastra a Signa.
2007 was the year of the "Fiorino d'argento" award organised by the Municipality of Florence Centro Culturale Firenze Europa "Mario Conti", 25th edition, obtained with the bronze sculpture Figliol prodigo (V. Sgarbi collection).
Sculpture prize with the terracotta bas-relief Maternity in the competition organised by the A.I.C.S. Comitato Provinciale di Sesto Fiorentino di Firenze "G. Pescetti".
National Prize City of Lastra a Signa in the 42nd art competition with the linoleum graphic Autoritratto.
Wins the competition for the monument in honour of Salvo D'Acquisto organised by the Carabinieri Committee and the Municipality of Florence.
In 2008 he won the Florence "Fiorino d'argento" award in the 26th edition with the bronze sculpture Poet Mario Luzi (V. Sgarbi collection).
Since 2008 the sculpture Maternity has been on permanent display at the IperCoop in Lastra a Signa, which bought it in the same year.
The "Fondazione Alimondo Ciampi" of the city of Signa awarded him a scholarship for artistic merit.
In 2009 he exhibited his works at a personal exhibition in the Palagio Di Parte Guelfa in Florence.
In 2009 he took part in the exhibition "Arte Genio Follia" (Art Genius Madness), Siena 31 January-25 May 2009, Santa Maria della Scala Museum Complex, organised by Vittorio Sgarbi. The well-known critic wanted to exhibit three works by Belarghes: Il folle prodigio, Il cieco, and Alienazione.
In 2011 he exhibited the Prodigal Son, a 212 cm bronze work, at the Italian Pavilion in Turin as part of the fifty-fourth International Art Biennale in Venice linked to the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Italian Republic and curated by Vittorio Sgarbi.
In 2011 Vittorio Sgarbi chose the sketch of the monument to the hero Salvo d'Acquisto for the national prize for Culture and Fine Arts organised annually by the Pio Alferano and Virginia Ippolito Foundation in Castellabate. The sculpture has become a symbol of the Foundation itself.
In 2013-2014 he was commissioned by the municipality of Signa to create the symbol of the town and its history:
Allegory of Straw, a 185 cm bronze monument visible in Piazza Cavallotti.
In 2015 he completed the sculpture Caruso, 3 metres high, and donated it to the Municipality of Lastra a Signa.
2015-2016 undertakes studies on paper, mainly charcoals, as models for future sculptural groups.
2016 participates in the 50th Premio Nazionale Città Lasta a Signa, coming second with the portrait charcoal on paper entitled Tommaso.
2017-2018 works on the clay sketch of the sculpture for the National Competition between artists for the creation of works of art to be given to the Carabinieri's Marshal