Creative work of Jeanpulat Basharov became a bright star in the galaxy of fine arts of Uzbekistan. Meeting with his works you understand that Jeanpulat has never been indifferent towards life. In a course of intensive struggle against death Jeanpulat was eager to expose the beauty of the world around and its harmony.
At the beginning of his creative way Jeanpulat gravitated to graphics. He has made the design and illustrations for works of Tursunbai Samatov, including “Baht saierasi mehmoni” (“The Visitor from the Planet of Happiness”), watercolour illustrations to tales of the peoples of the world Indian “Anbe va Ranbe” (“Anbe and Ranbe”), German “Bolakai” (“The Boy”), Indonesian “Donishmond Suleimanshoh” (“Wise Suleimanshoh”), Indian “Aier chiyaburi” (“Cunning Jackal”), to the tale “Tongga peshvoz chisailiq” (“Mornwards”) and others; he had made series of advertising placards of different themes and micro placards “Man and Nature”.
The talent of the artist fully revealed itself in the 90s when he switched to oil painting. Jeanpulat immediately made himself a bright colourist. His painting is multifaceted. The works “Still life with kumgan and cut melon”, “Still life with watermelon”, “Plenty” and others are associated with the Holland school, at the same time, national traditions sound clearly. Metal kumgan, the ceramic utensil, and pieces of ripe melon form the atmosphere of Central Asian autumn with its plenty. In the works “Plenty” and “Still Life with Watermelon” fruits are drawn carefully, with deep love and in details, and in “Still Life with Watermelon” a piece of the watermelon is not cut but as if broken. Sugar corns on its surface are so clear and realistic that it seems touch them and they will dash, and dark pips in over mature pulp will jump out. Corporality of things, their vital facture draw attention and at the same time the motif in general, its emotional tune moves the heart.
Creative evolution of Jeanpulat reflects striving to the works of associative, metaphoric and symbolic character, what gave him the opportunity to create deep philosophic and essential but not trivial and descriptive works. His latest works are close to post impressionism. Profligacy of bright flaming colours, use of “open” “decorative” colours and addressing to pictures based on composition of large colour masses are typical of these his works. Such are the still life “Peonies”, “Self-portrait among flowers” and “Self-portrait in the Interior”.
In the “Self-portrait in the Interior” the artist had reflected his heart drama. He exposed himself in the fool’s cap. Life of a man within society, where it determines by social standards, has always likened the theatre performance following a fibula and where each character is playing his role. Sometimes in such life is visible something unnatural and even buffoon. Already Platon (who was hung up on the idea to bridle a person in the cause of social good) compared the people with dolls and buffoons with prophets. Open intense colours are creating the atmosphere of disquiet.
The canvas “Landscape with Waterfall” is presenting the balanced classic composition, thoroughly drawn but solved in the modern way. Afar the mountains with water streams falling down into the river. The landscape is felt as a picture of universal panorama; the universal spiritual substance penetrates it. The waterfall is symbolizing the talent of the artist flowing in the river of the world art. In the panorama landscape “The Eternal Motion” two elements the Sky and Earth are moving towards each other. The artist, by means of colour solution, nobly and monumentally, had transmitted the eternal struggle of the light and darkness, the good and evil, the dualism of nature and world.
The artist used colour and line rhythms that expressively added the composition and so reached the intensive influence on spectators. In the canvas “The Small Yard” he used dense facture brushstrokes, runs and blurs of the paint, which added especial sensitive charm. In the landscape “The Moon Night” light of the moon is flowing on to the spring earth covered with light fluffy grass and on to tree crowns shedding the cold light to the dark night sky. The stars are sparkling in the shoreless space. Intense colour of the earth and sky is making stronger the mystic lunar eradiation. Moon light is being afire and the moon river is gushing out of it and overflowing around. The moon is ruling over and playing, the moon is dancing and frolicking.
The far, air and general condition is being associated with tragic works of Van Gogh who said: “The colour itself expresses something; it can not be avoided; it must be used…”, “The love of two lovers should be expresses by means of wedding of two additional colours, by means of their mixture, – the colour will be not exactly clear, from naturalists’ point of view but intense and expressing some motion of ablaze feeling; if a colour and drawing are given with perfect accuracy according to the nature, you will never achieve such commotion…”.
Using the expressive art, Jeanpulat is searching there for accords with his feelings, world vision and thoughts; in this case the intellectual element overbalances the sensitive. He did not see works out of panhuman, “eternal idea” and this idea was being unclothed in some literature plot, for which he had found plastically convictive form but had never switched to the position of just illustrator and always followed the level of philosophical generalizations affirming own world vision and art style. Such is the canvas “The Fly of Soul” where the artist’s life and soul, exposed in a view of light flying bird, have found reflection on a background of the square. The artist tried to understand the idea of realty, to find out the sense of life and death, the destination and role of a person in the life and society. His soul was the integral part of the world and Universe, the soul is deathless in the art.
Breathe of fine colourful combinations red, scarlet, purple, orange and claret or precious jewels of blue, emerald-green and turquoise with sparkling splotches of the white wind-blow the abstract works of the artist. These are the works with common title “Associations” abstract pictures “Fondness”, “The Red Point”, “Touching” and others. Jeanpulat as if transformed his emotions and impressions by means of clean, free from any subject colour. And they obtained a character of colour improvisations based on subjective personal feelings of the artist and on specific art vision of the world in dynamics of colours.
Especially expressive are the self-portraits where he have been penetrating in psychological depth of the person. So, in the “Self-portrait with Butterfly”, the “Portrait with Cigarette” Jeanpulat Basharov did not stop on the transmission of external similarity or exposing of some, even expressive feature. In the portraits he exposed inimitable individualism of the unseen with special atmosphere of his feeling laying around. A face and hands were the basic characteristics of the personage for Jeanpulat. He exposed less the stable emotional condition than a course of feelings layering one above another. The portraits personify artistry of the person and definite aristocratism of the soul. They are adding each other accenting some definite facet of the artists’s life.
“The Portrait of Old Man” a collective character. The artist was accenting the genetic link of times and peoples. He tried, through complicated composition and colour, to achieve the concise expression of the idea and has created the portrait of old man as if having lived through the centuries but symbolizing modernity and at the same time wisdom, entirety and initial purity of the past. The character is ancient but alive, personifying the age-long culture.
He always presented specific colour spectrum, his own tonal and colour tonometre. Having inward vision, J.Basharov had found a key for each work creating the atmosphere where characters were obtaining a force of beauty and fineness. Eternal motions of spirit and form, their permanent transformations one into another are present in the works. And in this lays originality and force of the artist. He had created his own worlds, indirectly feeling the heroic romantics of the Universe, he knew when and where to strengthen a tone or, as artists say, to blow with colour, splotch or line and reach the desirable accent.
Jeanpuiat Basharov was a specific artist, he had found and affirmed himself in “absolute synthesized art”. He used geometric and vegetative forms of national ornamental art of Uzbekistan, its rhythm and original plastic expressiveness, and at the same time, his works can enrich traditional folk applied arts and monumental art as well as composition and decoration of interior and exposition being used by modern designers.
Pictures of the artist give the spectators a plenty of associations developing creative imagination, fantasy and inner space. And everything is being built on the level of talent, inward culture and stable professional background. Jeanpulat was a modest person. He thought that his works returned speak for themselves, he had never strived neither to fame nor to popularity. Shortly before his death he had created the picture “Angel”, which turned out predicting. Angel with wings down is leaning on the crescent. He is tooting on the trumpet as if informing the humanity on something important. By means of diagonal composition the artist created the feeling of the Saint falling slightly backward but at the same time he affirms him the face, trumpet and eyes of the Angel are directing upward to the sky. Actually, the artist acted out himself in the Angel. He hanged this picture at the head of the bed and did not leave it as the protective amulet.
In the pictures of Jeanpulat Basharov we are being charmed and admired with the colours, sky and sun of Uzbekistan, its light and wonderful nature, the past and present, and we, listening to its numerous sounds, are penetrating into the specific world of feelings and are living in his works as if melting in them. The artist had affirmed himself in nature realistic and abstract art aiming to transmit the harmony and spiritual culture and time as relative abstracts. He was eager to leave the routine of everyday life for the world of beauty preserving, at the same time, concrete and substantial content of the epoch and time as direct appearance of truth and eternity. The creativity of Jeanpulat Basharov is emotional poetic and expressive says. In this way he saw and felt the world and invited us to co-feelings giving the opportunity, by the force of his talent, to see by his eyes and to feel extraordinary beauty and contradiction of the realty. Probably, in this is hiding a secret of his works’ charisma.
Author: Sergey Nemtsovich