![]() ![]() He decided not to pursue his interest in music after his violin teacher was arrested, jailed and ultimately put to death. Turkeshi saw such consequences firsthand. Growing up under those brutal and economically disastrous regimes, Turkeshi recalls how he and his friends passed Rolling Stones tapes around and learned foreign languages "under the table." Foreign indulgences could mean imprisonment, even death. Under the long-running dictatorships of Enver Hoxha and Ramiz Alia, Turkeshi's family was repeatedly persecuted and jailed. ![]() #Caffe dolce missoula full#For Turkeshi, it is yet another turn in a life full of unexpected twists.īorn into a once-wealthy family in communist Albania, Turkeshi grew up in a world of uncertainty. "To have him working here in Missoula is just a dream come true."įor Lambros, it is a dream years in the making. ![]() "He is the most remarkable artist I've known in my lifetime," says Peter Lambros, owner of Caffe Dolce. It is a talent that literally saved his life once, a talent that is recognized across Europe, and a talent that ultimately brought him to Missoula three weeks ago for this one job: painting the ceiling of the new Caffe Dolce, under construction on South Brooks Street. But already, the partially completed fresco reveals much about the talent and energy that drives Turkeshi. "I'm sure I will see things that must be changed once I can get down on the floor and look at it." "It is very hard to get a view of it all from this close," he says in a thick accent that reflects his Albanian heritage. Turkeshi stands statue-still for a moment, staring intently at one small section of the painting then, with a sudden shift, he is lying on his back, rolling his head back and forth repeatedly. Above him, just inches overhead, an ornately designed fresco swirls in every direction on the expansive plaster ceiling. In one hand, a paintbrush on the opposite wrist, a splotch of creamy yellow paint. By JOE NICKELL of the Missoulian | Posted: Saturday, Decem12:00 amĪs the lilting strains of a Beethoven symphony waft through the air, Kujtim Turkeshi stands silently on a platform 15 feet in the air, his face turned upward. ![]()
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