Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan’s popular surrealist, Mehriban Efendi has presented her work at Visionary Art exhibition, which takes place in the Moscow House of Artists from March 27 to April 1.

Artist’s colorful painting "Mystic of the Night" is put on display, Trend Life reported.

Paintings are some kind of portals that will open up endless possibilities of existence and self-expression, it is a path of feelings.

The development of this style goes in parallel with the spread of eastern spiritual practices (for example, yoga), a technique of penetrating into the depths of the subconscious, an interest in the pagan and pre-literate past of peoples.

Surrealism mostly attracts unique artists, and Azerbaijan’s most popular surrealist, Mehriban Efendi, is one those artist to who this kind of art helped show her inner world.

The first solo exhibition of Efendi was held in the U.S. in 2005. Then she participated in the exhibition "Art and Awareness" in Montana; a few of her works were further demonstrated at the huge electronic billboards "Art Takes Times Square" on Time Square in New York.

The work "Harmony" presented at this exhibition was published in the book "Art Takes Time Square" and was noted as one of the best works in 2012.

Efendi took part in an international exhibition organized by Australian artist Paris Saint-Martin, becoming one of the top ten computer artists in 2003, while in 2009, the artist's work was presented at an international exhibition in the Netherlands. In 2010, Efendi was among the 56 best surrealist painters in the world.

She won the first prize of the international exhibition "Shining" in Bulgaria, which was held under the motto "The ancient codes of my country" in 2010.

In 2011, the artist won an international award at the festival "Cinema @ Costume moulins" in France as "The best dress artist." This award was conferred for her costume designs for German director Veit Helmer's film "Absurdistan."

She was the winner of the prestigious Sandro Botticelli (named after the Italian painter of the Early Renaissance) award called “For art and talent” in 2014.

In 2016, her works "Mysticism" and "Night Impression" entered the book "Polychromia" about the best contemporary surrealist artists according to National Geografic.

Last year, artist's paintings "Miriada" and "Impression" were presented at the largest exhibition of surrealism in Europe.

Efendi's works are exhibited in Portugal, USA, Holland, Bulgaria, France and other countries.

Mehiban Efendi awarded a number of international prizes in Germany, France, Macedonia, Bulgary, etc. The outstanding artist also worked as a costume designer with the German filmmaker Veit Helmer in his comedy “Absurdistan,” shot in Azerbaijan in 2008.

She is the winner of the prestigious Sandro Botticelli (named after the Italian painter of the Early Renaissance) award called “For art and talent” in 2014.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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