Sukhrob Kurbanov, Art Critic
Starting from the first days of its independence, the Republic of Uzbekistan had got the impulse for development of the artistic culture. Creation of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan and the whole range of the artistic educational institutions are the striking testimonies of this. Main objective of the K. Bekhzad National Institute of Arts and Designin the sphere of artistic education is formation of new generation of creative youngsters, for whom the required conditions are being set up in order to reveal their abilities and get the quality education in various arts. Sarvinoz Kasymova and Bakhtiyar Serekeev have displayed their thematic paintings, portraits, still-lives and landscapes at this exhibition.
In the world of colors and forms of Sarvinoz Kasymova are the inimitable strokes creating, at first glance, an impression of something unclear, unfinished, concealed, however, under a close scrutiny, revealing the artist’s energy, succulence, freedom of brush strokes on the painting that surprise us and grant us pleasant emotions.
S. Kasymova is a graduate of the National Special Boarding School of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan (2002 – 2008), starting from 2009 she is a student of the K. Bekhzad National Institute of Arts and Design (the Monumental Painting Department), where she learnt the profession of artist under the guidance of the People’s Artist of Uzbekistan, professor Bahadyr Djalalov, Umid Alimov, Svetlana Shin, and Aybek Islamov. Since 2013, S. Kasymova is the post-graduate student of the artistic workshop of B. Djalalov, she actively participates to various exhibitions and contests. Thus, her water-color pieces have been demonstrated at the “Friendship” contest (Korea –Uzbekistan, 2005). She is a winner of the contest “Kelajak Ovozi – 2009”, participant of the “Navkiron Uzbekiston” exhibition in 2010. The same year she has participated to the exhibition – “The Artists of Namangan” – with her still-lives “Pumpkins” (2010), “Quince” (2010), landscape “The Streets of Suqoq”, and the “Portrait of A. Volkov” (2010). Creations of S. Kasymova have been exposed at such exhibitions like “The Nature and the Artist” (2012), The Week of Figurative Art (2013), where she has been awarded with the Honorary Certificate, she has participated as well to the exhibitions dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Republic of Uzbekistan (2011) and the International Women’s Day of the 8th of March (2012).
S. Kasymova has an exceptional talent, a fine sense of color, and a great wish to comprehend the world of art in its every manifestation. The artist depicts the real-life situations and actual occurrences through the lens of her own inner perception – the world of limitless freedom. S. Kasymova is kin of the creative art of the Russian/American artist – Nikolay Feshin, the painter, sculptor, and graphic artist, representative of the impressionism and modernism, who has brought the sketch to the level of the masterpiece. Boundless freedom of the brush strokes of N. Feshin is evident in the paintings of S. Kasymova – “The Portrait of Volkov” (2010), “The Portrait of R. Akhmedov” (2011), “Mother’s Birthday” (2011), “The Self-Portrait” (2011).
The landscapes of Sarvinoz are very interesting. They are distinctive with their postitive character, selection of colors, original composition, subtle lyric, and extraordinary expressiveness. Many of her landscapes have been painted from nature. Her favorite plain air sites are Suqoq and Charvak. Kasymova, in her paintings, first of all, strives to encompass the space, making her pictures the panoramic ones. For instance, these are “The Wonders of the Water World” (2011) and “Morning landscape” (2012). Her painting in the genre of landscape – “Streets of Suqoq” (2010) – is fascinating. This picture was painted during a number of trips to the site, and has been completed in the workshop based on the sketches. The landscapes of this artist even after their completion have the fresh air of sketches. “Street of Suqoq” is distinctive for special selection of color palette by Kasymova, who achieves a striking expressiveness by combining the warm shades of yellow, mint green and green colors. Some of her paintings Kasymova has dedicated to the rural life – ‘The Sunlit Garden” (2011), diptych “My Rooster” (2012).
S. Kasymova is affined to the creative art of P. Benkov, R. Akhmedov, B. Djalalov, D. Umarbekov, A. Ikramjanov, as well as to foreign impressionist artists – Van Gogh, P. Sezanne, C. Monet, P. Picasso, A. Modigliani. “The art always directs a human being to good causes,” believes S. Kasymova, “since the art is the one of the most significant achievements of mankind. In my creations I try to reflect the nature, and every time, all over again, I am admiring its new shades.”
Bakhtiyar Serekeev has graduated from the Lyseum of Figurative and Applied Arts in Nukus (2001 – 2006), where his tutor was Jenis Lepesov. He continued his formation in Nukus College of Arts (2006 – 2009). Starting from 2009, B. Serekeev is the student of the National Institute of Arts and Design named after K. Bekhzad, where he studied the easel painting under the mentorship of the People’s Artist of Uzbekistan, professor Sobir Rakhmetov. Since 2013, B. Serekeev is a post-graduate student of the workshop of Akmal Ikramjanov.
The works of B. Serekeev were displayed at the exhibition “The Nature and the Artist” (2011, 2012), during the Week of Fine Arts (2012, 2013), where he was awarded an honorary certificate. Such paintings of B. Serekeev as “At the wedding”, “My sorrow is my hope” impress the viewers with their bright colors, the perfect composition and artistry.
High appreciation was expressed for the bachelor thesis of B. Serekeev comprising three oil paintings. Two of them – “Aral is my pain” realistically represent the fragments of the abandoned old ships laying at the bottom of the former Aral Sea, which is now the most recent desert of the planet designated as Aralkum. Seeking the plastic expressiveness of depiction, the young artist uses a complex painting technique by mixing the oil paints, acrylic paints, pigments and even the natural sand.
The artist pays great attention to the thematic picture. The paintings of Serekeev embody the link with a native land. Often the landscape and everyday genres run into one another. The artist is attracted to the rural themes, where he primarily pays attention to harmonious unity of nature and human being. In his picture “Friendship of Peoples” representatives of different ethnic groups in the nature backdrop are depicted in their traditional costumes; in the painting “Aral is my hope” B. Serekeev demonstrates the pastose painting technique, uncovering the ethnic world, which picturesque memory constitutes the expectations of people hoping for the inflow of high water. Two women are depicted on the picture, one of them is older, perhaps, a mother. The other one is a young expecting daughter-in-law in traditional ethnic clothes. It seems like the artist adds a touch of optimism into the picture: the shape of the daughter-in-law is like a pure source as a symbol of hope and continuation of life.
B. Serekeev creates in the genre of still-life as well. Thus, in the painting “Kumys” he depicts a breakfast of the farmer working in the field: a kumys in the pitch and a melon. The still-life “Gurbek” shows the variety of Karakalpak melon and knife.
The guests dressed in the national clothes with traditional headpieces “shoghirme” carrying their gifts hurry to the wedding party are depicted on the painting of B. Serekeev “To the Wedding” (2014), a girl is swinging on “The Swing of Aral” (2014) among the sands of Aralkum, a complicated love story and discord of the world the artist exposed in his painting “The Meeting Point” (2014). These paintings are the evidence of conceptual thinking of the artist, of his generalization skill, a convincing manifestation of form and sense of color. Such paintings of B. Serekeev painted in the portraiture genre as “Self-portrait”, “The Portrait of Father”, “Bride”, “Old man”, “Guard of the Ships” are especially noteworthy. These are the images of people who lived all their lives in the area of the vanished sea.
In the paintings of B. Serekeev one can feel, on the one hand, a sense of disharmony in the world, and on the other hand, a sense of empathy with life. This does not mean that the artist present a gloomy picture, on the contrary, in spite of everything, these pictures transmit conceptual thinking, generalization skill, a convincing manifestation of form and color.
Today S. Kasymova and B. Serekeev are promising artists with creative potential. In the process of training they form their own distinctive style. The young artists of the XXI century face the global challenges of formation and further development of the national culture of a democratic state based on the traditions and achievements of the people of past epochs.