Central Asian Arts

Old masters' paintings and art trends such as impressionism, expressionism, cubism, suprematism, or requirements of the time (Soviet realism), strongly influenced Central Asian painters as they did Soveit artists.  However, painters have been busy developing their own distinct styles over the last fifteen or so years that embody both the classical school of painting and an ethnic touch to their works expressed in bright and vivid colours, depiction of traditional ways of life or of indeed of national beliefs or customs.

Turkmenistan

 Atta Akiev

Born in Mary in 1949. Studied at the Art College of Ashgabat and the Polygraphic Institute in Lvov. 

 Vitaly Didenko

Born in 1976 in Ashgabat.  Studied at the Art College in Ashgabat and the Art Academy.  Currently professor at the Art Academy.

Juma Aman Durdy

Born in 1946 in Kizil Arbat and studied at the Art Academy of Ashgabat.

Gurbangeldi Gurbanov     

Born in 1951 in the village of Kese and works in Mary.  Specialized in Graphic Arts at the Art College in Ashgabat.                   

“I was born in the farthermost village of my homeland… Beyond my village is only  a vast unpopulated desert of Karakum…My village has the most amazing name, it is called Kese-Yap. This village is where I spent my childhood days; and people of the village are absolutely unlike any other people from any other village in Turkmenistan.

As a child I always dreamed of becoming a musician, I could not draw or paint, and never ever dreamt of learning to…After I enrolled into the painting department of an art college I started a new life – a life of a painter, a life in art.  In my works I always try to convey a new idea, new words – words that nobody ever could speak out… My works are a story of my life… If you have seen any of my graphics, you have learned something about me. I have lived, and live a very interesting life – an artist’s life. I have much to share about myself…

“I might not have been born” indeed, because my birth was a long and painful for my mother… She was waiting for me to come into this world, counting days to the moment she would go into labour…It has been a terrifying experience for my mother, she has been in labour for three days and she was fighting not only for her life, but for the life of her unborn baby, she was ready to die for giving life to me, for bringing me into this world… My mother was ill for a long time after the delivery, and she passed away when she was in her early forties. She never saw any of my paintings…That is the very reason why the theme of Birth is one of the major themes of my paintings.

I was brought up by my grandmother, and she was one of the great teachers of life for me. She would never reprimand or praise me for anything I have done and, she always taught me to be honest…The three of us: myself, my grandmother and my grandfather were living 5 kilometres away from the village where water was distributed…Their only son Ovezmurad was called into service during the war in 1943, and he never came back. We have never received any news of him… Although I have never met my uncle, I knew a lot about him… the name of Ovezrmurad could be heard very often, and he was present in every conversation… My grandmother kept waiting for her son until her last days, and that is why the theme of Waiting has resided in my memory, waiting to be told about by the language of art.

My graphical series “Farewell 20-th Century” is of particular importance and is endless for me, because is has everything. 20-th Century – it is the century of my birth, my youth, my student’s years, my dates, farewells, separations, tragedy and joy. 20-th century is my century. It is a very complex, mysterious and cruel  century, and, at the same time, is a wonderful century, that gave to humankind many talented personalities, who were out contemporaries.  To live in the same century with such great people, and create in the same space – that was a real happiness for me. Of such great people is a Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov.

The literary works by Chingiz Aitmatov have inspired my graphical series “Reading Chingiz Aitmatov”, which I worked upon for a few years back in the 80-s. What was behind my decision to refer to works by this author? I did not want to illustare his books; I just wanted to represent the world of the Turkmen village through the orifice of his books, to convey the story of my own life and my interpretation of spirit of the time. I feel if I have walked along with Aitmatov through my life path, and in my thoughts I have returned to old times, to the images that I fell in love with since I was a child.

My art is broad. I paint, I illustrate books, have worked as an art-director on few  film-sets. I live and I keep creating. Art is the main purpose of my life, everything that I do and that is connected to art, brings me the biggest joy ever.”

Murat Hojagulyev 

Jumadurdy Hojaniyazov

Born in Amasha, Mary, Juma studied at the Turkmen Art College in Ashagat as well as the Ukrainian Polygraphic Institute in Lvov.

Annageldi Jumaniyazov

Born in 1971 in Ashgabat.  Graduated from the Tashkent Art Institute and currently teaches at the Art Academy in Ashgabat.

“There is something infinite about the art of painting: I cannot quite explain what it is, but this something unknown has an entrancing capacity to convey one’s frame of mind. As for me, I just try to use the strokes of colour that would convey my sensations. The choice of colours for me is not based on any scientific theory, but it is based upon my observations, upon my feelings, upon my sensitivity.

Kossek Nurmuradov

Born in 1952 in Mary.  Studied at the Tashkent Art and Theatre Institute.

“I was born in a village called Muhadova, located in the Mary Region of Turkmenistan. From an early age I always tried to do something good. Since my school days I liked paintings, liked singing and travelling.

I graduated from theatre and art institute, perhaps this explains my love of al things classical. I like classical literature, paintings of old masters, an opera…But I also like paintings by modern artists such as Picasso, Dali, Kandinsky and Chagall. I also like listening to classical pieces of music such as “Seasons of the Year” by Antonio Vivaldi, “Carmen” opera score by Bizet, and to the Suite by the Russian composer Rodion Shedrin.

I like painting, and I do not know if I am good at it; I will leave it to people to make a judgement on that…I just like to express my feeling in my paintings… And I would like to think that I could create and leave behind for people to enjoy something beautiful and pleasant to an eye”.

Annageldi Meretgeldiev

Born In Kizil-Kum in 1956. Graduated Art college of Ashagat and Rostok in GDR. 

What causes one to become an artist? What is the beginning of the artist’s path? These are eternal questions that could only be answered by the life lived by a particular artist.

Perhaps the life of an artist begins in his childhood when he is running barefoot on the send chasing a goatling. Or perhaps, it comes with one’s mother’s breastfeeding her child… Or is triggered by getting an undeserved thick ear…

There is a particular and amazing beauty and colour that surround the world of Turkmen people. Their lives are so colourful, as colourful as a desert full of life that might seem silent a t a first glance, full-flowing rivers and mountains that have preserved the footprints of dinosaurs…

There is so much harmony between the gorgeous and proud nature and a sleepy boy herding a cow on pasture at dawn, a little girl with flowing hair that is sweeping a courtyard, an old shepherd locking after a big herd of camels, a young bride trying to pull a mischievous goatling by the rope; a joyful Turkmen wedding, and a sizzling bazaar in Mary.. This is life, and it sounds like music…

I have stepped on this path of being an artist, and have only comprehended its complexity, its confrontational nature that could lift you up and plunge you down, when I started working as an apprentice in the studio of the great painter and great teacher Durdy Bairamov. I started seeing the shapes, colours and mysterious lines from a new angle, new prospective, that defines my style.

A painter is like a source of spring water in the mountains that joins a river and disgorges into the sea and is striving towards an ocean. Likewise,  a painter is carrying on accumulating his own experience, everything that he learns and feels, going forward step by step along the infinite creative path.

Ayna Nuryyeva 

Born in 1961 in Mary, Ayna studied at the Art Academy in Asgabat, then at the Polygraphic Institute at Lvov.

Kyrgyzstan