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Laman Ismayilova

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A solo exhibition "Landscapes of Baku" dedicated to the memory of the Honored Artist of Azerbaijan, Isa Mammadov (March 5, 1956 – June 23, 2024), will open at Baku Museum Center on December 6, Azernews reports.

The exhibition is organized with the support of the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry, Baku Executive Power, Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts, Baku Museum Center, Azerbaijan Artists' Union and the Western Azerbaijan Community.

The exhibition will showcase 60 paintings by the artist depicting his favorite corners of Baku, such as the Seaside National Park, Nizami Street, the Train Station Square, Fountain Square, and more.

Isa Mammadov often traveled to various regions of Azerbaijan. Guba, Khachmaz, and Ismailli were particularly beloved places for him. Alone in nature, he found true happiness. Happiness is perhaps the key word that arises in the mind while gazing at the landscapes filled with air and sunlight created by Isa Mammadov.

For him, each painting was like a real "window to nature." The artist seemed to rediscover this world, full of colors, shadows, and highlights, time and again, and each new subject-a meadow, a tree, a ravine-was colored in his works by his personal perception and individual interpretation.

Slowly, stroke by stroke, he recreated his own "second" reality, skillfully using traditional means of painterly expressiveness-intensity of color and light, a clear and well-structured composition. Even the city, the noisy urban environment, transforms in his paintings into a special organism, living its own internal life! It is remarkable how the urban landscapes, which are numerous among the artist's works, are completely devoid of the city's hustle and bustle and the rigid rhythm of life characteristic of any large city.

Here, architectural monuments, as well as simple elements of the urban environment, including passersby, merge so seamlessly with the light-air treatment of the canvas that they become inseparable from the surrounding landscape, transforming into mirages, like figments of the artist's imagination.

Whatever the artist portrayed-his favorite natural spots or beloved corners of Baku-all are marked by his tender attitude, love, and warmth that are transmitted to us, the viewers.

The artist often said that each motif he discovered and reproduced became as close to him as any family member. Each motif was an individuality, and such an approach to the subject of representation forms the basis of his creativity.

His impressionistic manner, reinforced by a strictly realistic perspective, allows him to admire every corner of nature.

In one of his interviews, the artist articulated his creative credo: nature is always beautiful in itself, and it should not be imposed with any particular effects. On the contrary, it is essential to find and emphasize what is inherent in the motif itself.

Isa Mammadov's landscapes are always a very personal, introspective dialogue between the artist and nature. His style is recognizable, and his technique is unique. He is an artist who listens to and hears nature.

When reproducing a particular motif and working outdoors, he always digs deeper, as if learning directly from nature itself, becoming an inseparable element of it. His landscapes are not just reflections of nature; they are reproductions of its essence.

The artist feels, understands, and "reads" the surrounding world, and the internal dynamics of his works, with their lively brushstrokes and constantly changing colors, create a sensation as if they are saturated with the very life juices of the earth.

Unfortunately, people do not always recognize how vital the ecosystem we live in is. Landfills and rampant pollution of seas and lakes, deforestation, systematic emissions of deadly gases into the atmosphere, and the release of harmful chemicals into the world's oceans, the destruction of landscape reserves...

All of this and much more, which provokes global climate change and the dangerous consequences of this process for the entire planet, was discussed at the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which recently took place successfully in Baku.

Leaders from over 80 countries gathered in the capital of Azerbaijan to collectively discuss and think about how to save our planet-our shared home-through joint efforts.

Azerbaijan consistently and steadfastly follows the principles of a "green" economy strategy, including "green" energy. The very fact that the COP29 conference was held in Azerbaijan is evidence of the international community's recognition of the measures being taken in our country in this area.

The year 2024 has been declared the "Green World Solidarity Year" in Azerbaijan. Sustainable development, ecology, and respect for the environment must become priorities for each of us.

What can we, each of us, do to protect nature and save our planet? And what can, for example, artists do? Perhaps they can remind everyone, daily and constantly, again and again, how beautiful our planet Earth is.

For millennia, different peoples of the world have dreamed of paradise, and scientists even search for specific places on Earth that could be the legendary paradise described in myths. Perhaps it exists right here, next to us, and it is these artists who tirelessly seek to convey this message! Yes, our Earth is beautiful, and paradise... is around us... And who knows, perhaps the mission of one of us—the artist, the tireless singer of his native nature, Isa Mammadov-lies in this very truth?

Media partners of the event are Azernews.Az, Trend.Az, Day.Az, Milli.Az and Turkic.world.