Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Chelsea’s Agora Gallery in New York will feature the original work of Azerbaijani artist Ilgar Talibov in Emerging Visions.

The exhibition opens on December 29 and will run until January 14, 2016.

Ilgar Talibov began painting nearly as soon as he could hold a brush. Winning his first art contest at age seven, Talibov continued to explore his own creative talents as he grew with age, eventually becoming a graphic designer and art director.

Enthralled by the work of Cubists and Italian Futurist painters, Talibov considers his work to be a hybrid form he terms “Futuristic Cubism.” Though he was born at the tail end of the twentieth century, one could easily imagine Talibov at home with Picasso and Braque nearly a century earlier.

On occasion he does break from tradition, encapsulating his imagery in circles and hexagons, leaving the rest of the canvas white, a blank space that isolates his paintings and seems to put them under a microscope. The process is one, he says, of transcendence to “imaginative dimensions.”

Baku, where Ilgar Talibov was born and raised, is an ancient trading post city at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. It was this environment of shared culture and ideas that fostered Talibov’s creative spirit.

In the exhibition Emerging Visions, artists from across the world draw from their life experiences and cultural influences to create a diverse display of aesthetic adventures. The works in this show range from the abstract to the figurative, touching upon surrealism, futurism, cubism, and just about everything in between.

Cool landscapes meet celebrity portraits. Floral scenes meet abstract maelstroms. Two dimensions meet three. No matter what their subject or preferred methods, each artist speaks of fascinating and unavoidable truths. With a diversity sure to speak to any art lover, this exhibition is not to be missed.

Alongside Ilgar, the exhibition will feature works of Kuniko Anan Bartlett, Eli Cantini, Rozsa Dajka, Joe Dugan, Kari Rindahl Endresen, Tiziana Fejzullaj, FONSEK, Olivia Kapoor, Seppo Kari, Lars Korse | Raul Mariaca Dalence, Sloane Merrick, Patricia Olguin, Lars Rasmussen | Donna Shaffer, Zequn Wu and Antonio Zegarra.

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

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