Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Rusty metal, broken tools, plastic pipes, metal wires, wooden sticks, soda cans and piles of trash -- that are all those comprising Rashad Alakbarov's massive installations which express different human feelings under the stream of light. That creates projected shadows of people screaming, standing, crying... and even quotes and inscriptions.

Objects, either diverse or homogenous, are arranged in a manner to cast shadows on a wall under proper lighting, and have little to do with the image of the initial installation. This duality withholds the magic of his works.

Every object is precisely arranged taking into consideration its distance from the wall, and cast a shadow on a wall under proper spotlight to create a powerful and surprising effect.

Sometimes it's even hard to believe how abstract forms can transform into figurative ones.

Living and working in Baku, Rashad, the father of two boys, does incredible things with light and shadows. He has an impressive list of solo and group shows since early 2000s along with a host of private collections around the world.

Rashad received his bachelor in Faculty of Decorative Arts at Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Art in Baku.

He believes that flash from childhood led him to get engaged in a shadow art. The artist remembers early 90th, when the country experienced difficult period. During power outages his parents used to light candles showing shadow play with hands, describing different animals and interesting figures.

This, the artist believes on some unconscious level influenced his love to this unusual kind of art.

In 2000, the young artist joined the exhibition of modern art, entitled Aluminium "Faces of time," what was a new phenomenon for the country.

The exhibition became beginning of the road, since, here, Rashad created his first installation of light and shadow called “Cities,” and with this work he later toured many countries.

Now, “Cities” sold in 2007 is kept in a private collection in Venice.

The artist has created a broad range of works portraying images of the city as well as mythological and other characters. He significantly emphasizes the concept of the Eastern world in his works.

Thematically, his recent works are mainly associated with global social problems. With these works the artist focuses attention on problems and demonstrates that he is far from oblivious towards what is happening in the world today.

Rashad’s creativity attracts many, while some are interested in the technical side of his works, others are curious about the concept.

Some artists work for the final result, and there are those enjoys greatly the process.

“Whatever difficult the work is, when starting work on an idea, I relax,” Rashad says. “Very often during the process fabrics cause scratches, even leaving deep wounds on my hands. But it does not stop me, since the process itself is more important for me.”

Rashad is represented locally and internationally by YAY Gallery, which exhibits the most talented and promising young artists as well as more established artists from Azerbaijan.

So far, Rashad participated in many exhibitions including East Wing Biennial in London, 55th Venice Biennale in Venice and the 12th Avesta Art Festival in Kungsgatan, Sweden.

His works are popular among collectors from Europe and the Middle East, and are kept in museums and private collections in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Austria, Turkey and UAE.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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