Simon Shiroka

Simon Shiroka
Was born on the 20th of March, 1927 in the city of Prizren, the city that withholds the ancient and flamboyant treasure of artisans and the tradition of noble metal crafts. He mastered his crafts on the hands of the most famous craftsman-filigree jewelers in Prizren yet ambitious to be- come something more than just a well-known handicraftsman he continued his studies initially in Belgrade and afterwards in Zagreb returning to Prishtina to start one very rich applicative and artistic act. His interest in using silver and other noble materials in artistic painting and sculpture was need- less to say, neither coincidental nor pushed. It was coming from a rather troubled vivid soul endlessly seeking for a quest, an enthusiasm hard to find among other artists even at times when artists and sculptors were scarce. He was a professionally prepared and tempered man meanwhile the wisdom of using this knowledge with art objects derived from his ever-burning youthful artistic soul. Actu- ally this is the time when he came up with his most interesting and inspiring pieces, extraordinary, odd and inexplicable to the people at the time. He had to work hard in pursuit of earning merits in the novel Albanian applicative arts since all the circle of skeptics acquired of him were rings, bracelets and necklaces meanwhile the first totem figures, ethnographic relicts and other figurines of tinny sil- ver strings knitted with a masterminds finesse, especially during the 50-60 period of the xx century, were more of a fanatics way to kill time. Year after year he would present himself gracefully in Kosovo and abroad where he’d attract a special attention. It wasn’t only the artisan of noble metals that he borrowed from the national tradition but also the figuration, national ornaments, ethnography to- gether with the psychology and belief of our people. The thing that characterizes his artistic work be- sides the totems, folklore, mysticism and the ornaments of the soul of these lands and its nation, is the artist’s unique soul eternally burning with obnoxious passion and unconditional love for art.