By Dash Frashëri, Publisher of TiranaDiplomat.com

Tirana is already considered the “capital of murals”.

Giant murals adorn the facades of buildings in some of the most popular and dynamic streets in all areas of Tirana.

Tirana has turned into a cosmopolitan city, not only because residents of over 140 different nationalities live in the capital of Albania, but almost every day, articles published in the most prestigious international media write about the epochal transformation of the most vibrant metropolis of the Western Balkans.

“Mural Fest 2023”, a project of Dekor Tirana and the VizArt association led by Ormira Lulani and curated by the well-known painter Helidon Haliti, has brought this year the most important names with a global geography, from France to Argentina, from Spain to Denmark, or Serbia, the Netherlands and Italy.

“There are more than 100 giant murals, by artists from all over the world. Marcus Debie, aka GOMAD, and his wife, Nancy, are from the Netherlands, but before them, I’m mentioning only two of them, there were the famous Maximiliano Bagnasco from Argentina and the French Zabou“, curator Helidon Haliti told TiranaDiplomat.

Marcus Debie, aka GOMAD and his assistant, also his wife, Nancy Montforts, are painting one of the most beautiful murals in Tirana.

The Dutch GOMAD is one of the world’s best-known names in murals, with a large portfolio of works.

GOMAD is considered a pinnacle of post-neo graffiti, fusing photorealistic images of people, animals and nature into a mind bending surrealist structure, against organic forms in an old Dutch master composition. Combining oil paint, acrylics and sprays in a particularly vibrant and unique way.

GOMAD’s mural masterpieces can be found in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, France, England, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Greece, Spain, United States, Australia and now in Tirana, Albania.

With Marcus and Nancy, the conversation is only about art and murals.

Bachelor in Art (HKLS Sittard Art School, The Netherlands) his artistic beginnings start at the age of 12, and he already has a 38-year personal experience and professional muralist since 2012, which he does with passion and dedication.

Heavily influenced by the graffiti documentary “Style Wars”, GOMAD has been artistically active since 1985 in the South Holland graffiti scene, considered one of the pioneers in that region.

GOMAD holds two unique records: it realized the largest mural in the Netherlands 2000 m2 (Oss, 2019) and the highest TV mural in the Netherlands, 40 meters high, Sittard, the Netherlands.

“Tirana of Murals” has attracted him extremely and the fact that, in the Albanian capital, there are murals of some of the most important names in the world, has been a challenge for GOMAD, add here also the bad rainy weather, which endangered the painting a few days ago.

“The story of the mural I am making in Tirana is very beautiful. It is my modern interpretation of a painting by the old Dutch master “Vermeer”. He painted the famous ‘Girl with pearl earrings’. In my mural there are two portraits, they are both of my mother. One when he was 16 years old and one as he looks now at the age of 80. The clock shows the passage of time. An old Dutch master made again by a new Dutch master”, said GOMAD.

The work is really beautiful. It is located at the former Shqiponja Square. And here it is in progress, day after day.

A nice visit, a surprise from the ambassador of the Netherlands in Albania, Dr. Reinout Vos and his wife, Corien Vos, make it more meaningful. Now Rembrandt’s and Van Gogh’s Holland will have its artistic mark in Tirana, through GOMAD.

“I feel proud that a famous Dutch painter is making a mural in Tirana. Mural art is a beautiful tradition in the Netherlands. We have a distinguished tradition in painting. This mural is a combination between traditional and modern. It is also that the portrait of the woman is Dutch, and moreover is the painter’s mother. And this mural is forever. I will tell all Dutch visitors that there is a bit of Holland here”, Ambassador Vos told TiranaDiplomat.com.

Everyone feels happy with this beautiful mural. And most of all, Helidon Haliti, whom I consider as the “General of the Army of Muralist Painters”.

Tirana, 07.08.2023