Ramazan Useinov

Al Ain Tower, Al Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi, UAE [email protected] | www.n2nartgallery.com

n2ngallery_uae n2n gallery RAMAZAN USEINOV

Ramazan Useinov is a man of a few words and does not like to speak about himself or his creative process. All the questions are followed with a smile and the reply: “Everything has been said by the paintings”.

He was born on 2nd of July 1949 in Samarkand, where his mother and father met, having lived through the dramatic episode of war and deportation. Ramazan’s father, a master of winemaking, dreamed that his son would follow in his footsteps, but instead Ramazan went to Art College in Tashkent. After graduating in 1971 he returned to his hometown where he worked in the Art Foundation, designing and making architectural objects for the city. In his spare time, he painted, intently trying to find the artistic expression which resembled his understanding of the world.

In 1990 the artist relocated to Crimea, the land of his ancestors, where the process of settling down turned out to be challenging. However at that time, the frequent visits to Moscow filled him with artistic inspiration, and the longterm work in the Art House on Senej gave him the powerful impulses to look for his own way. That was the time when the original artistic language of Ramazan was formed.

Metaphors are at the forefront of significance in Useinov’s artworks. The romantic intonation in his paintings are reminiscent of the masters of the beginning of the 20th century, who were in love with the East and in their works wished to bring back the lost civilizations that lived in harmony with nature.

In the works of Ramazan, however, there is the presence of hidden melancholy, a sense of submissiveness to the circumstances of life. This does not only express the inner world of the artist, but of his compatriots, who experienced the forced removal from their historical roots and were obliged to live far from their homeland. The stories told by his mother were some of the deepest impression from his childhood.

Maybe because of this the characters in most of Ramazan’s paintings are travelers, buskers, wanderers with poor carts, covered with bright rags. They carry not only their belongings, but their entire worlds. There are also the birds, about to take flight, unaffected by the material and the mundane. The ethereal world of his paintings was born from tender pearly shades of early morning or a sultry sunset colored with smallest details of forest’s dust. The tightly contained color palette occasionally explodes with bright, glowing, joyful colors of the rainbow.

Animals sometimes become the independent lead characters in the stories within the paintings; they are similar in their destiny and look: they carry their little ones and try to persevere in life. In this they are spiritually close to the humans of Ramazan’s world. The birds, sometimes free and flying, other times locked in cages, strongly suggest being symbolic of human souls.

With time, the works begin to show a Crimean landscape, historical places that hosted many civilizations on its land – these take over in most of Ramazan’s paintings, in poetic spaces of his canvases. The color scheme becomes warmer and intensifies, with clear tones of earth, and textured surfaces adds expressiveness to the paintings. Svetlana Khromtchenko. Senior academician of the State Museum of Eastern Art. Moscow 1 ON A VISIT oil, canvas 100x80, 2016 2 GIRLFRIENDS THE RETURN oil, canvas oil, canvas 50X60, 2015 75x120, 2015 4 5 THE VELVET SEASON AFROSIAB GIRLS oil, canvas oil, canvas 80x100, 2014 100x80, 2014 6 7 BRIDE oil, canvas 60x90, 2009

THE FLIGHT REPATRIATION oil, canvas oil, canvas 60x80, 2014 60x80, 2014 8 9 CHARIOT oil, canvas 100x100, 2014 10 IRISES STILL LIFE BY THE SEA oil, canvas oil, canvas 100x77, 2012-2015 80x90, 2017 12 13 COFFEE STILL LIFE oil, canvas 60x120, 2006 14 GOLDEN POPLARS MOONLIGHT oil, canvas oil, canvas 80x80, 2012 60x90, 2012

16 17 GOLDEN PEACHES BAKHCHISARAI oil, canvas oil, canvas 82x90, 2016 70x60, 2017 18 19 CARAVAN oil, canvas 80x100, 2014

MOONLIGHT EARLY MORNING oil, canvas oil, canvas 70x90, 2014 60x80, 2014 20 19 A GIRL WITH A SOGDIANA TAMBOURINE oil, canvas oil, canvas 100x100, 2015 90x70, 2015 22 23 BOATS THE DOCK oil, canvas oil, canvas 60x80, 2016 60x80, 2012 24 25 BAKHCHISARAI oil, canvas 60x80, 2015

BAKHCHISARAI BAKHCHISARAI oil, canvas oil, canvas 60x70, 2017 60x80, 2007

26 27 RAMAZAN USEINOV | BIOGRAPHY

Honored Artist of Ukraine Laureate of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Born July 2, 1949 in Samarkand

1971 graduated from the Republic’s Art School in Tashkent 1987 became a member of the “23”, Tashkent. Since 1988, member of the Union of Artists of USSR 1993 moved to the Crimea 1998 awarded Triennial Award for his film “Flight of Birds”, Kiev 2009 received title of Honored Artists of Ukraine

SELECTED PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS 2015 – Eastern Wind, N2N Gallery, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 2005 – Gallery Alla Rogers, Washington, United States 2010 – Anniversary Exhibition, Artists’ House, Simferopol, Crimea 2005 – Ukrainian Embassy, Washington, United States 2006 – Gallery White Moon, Odessa, Ukraine 2002 – Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia 2006 – Central House of Artists, Kiev, Ukraine 2000 – Simferopol Art Museum, Simferopol, Crimea 2005 – Gallery Kolo, Kiev, Ukraine 1991 – Gallery East, Moscow, Russia

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2017 - Museum of the World Ocean, Kaliningrad, Russia 2004 – Krimsky Val, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia 2016 - Rostov Museum of Art, Rosto-on-Don, Russia 2003 – Group Exhibition, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia 2016 - Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russia 2002 – Central House of Artists, Kiev, Ukraine 2014 – Gallery Art, Geneva, Switzerland 2000 – The creative team of Troy, Ankara, Turkey 2014 – The State Museum of Oriental Nations, Moscow, Russia 2000 – Outdoor Island Veranka, Kecskemet, Hungary 2013 – The State Museum of Art, Kazan, Russia 1999 – Duo Exhibition with Aider Aliyev, Berlin, Magdeburg and 2012 – Presentation Gran Prix Turks, Ankara, Turkey Hamburg ,Germany 2010 – Group Exhibition, Lyon, France 1998 – Art Triennial, Kiev, Ukraine 2009 – Group Exhibition Art-Kyiv, Kiev, Ukraine 1997 – Central House of Artists, Kiev, Ukraine 2009 – The Municipal Gallery, Shanghai, China 1996 – Gallery in the Gallery, Tretyakov State Gallery, Moscow, Russia 2008 – On the Baltic to the Black Sea, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine 1994 – Duo Exhibition with Mamut Churlu, Cologne, Municha and 2007 – Museum A. Green, Feodosia, Crimea Hamburg, Germany 2006 – Art Museum, Dnepropetrovsk, Crimea 1994 – East Gallery, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia 2006 – Gallery Arlis, Nikopol, Ukraine 1993 – The International Exhibition of ART-MYTH 3, Arena, THE FLIGHT 2005 – Golden Adriatic, Gallery Kolo, Kiev, Ukraine Moscow, Russia oil, canvas 2005 – Ukrainian Institute of America, New York, United States 1991 – The International Exhibition of ART-MYTH 2, Arena, 40x50, 2015 2004 – View on a Background of the Sea, Gallery Kolo, Kiev, Ukraine Moscow, Russia 28