ART IN BOXES

It is believed that if someone is gifted, then he or she is able to demonstrate the talent in everything. Bahram Baghirzadeh is a true confirmation of this belief. Everybody knows him in Baku. Well, if not personally, then in absentia, for sure. For many, he is associated with his successful performances in the KVN team Parni iz Baku. For others, he is the editor of the Gorod magazine, a blogger, an author of books The City of My Youth, What Women in the USSR Say: Pros and Cons, A Letter to the Mayor, My Favourite Dishes, Icheri Sheher, where every house is a fortress, Postcards of Baku and a renowned exhibitor of caricatures and photographs. And now Bahram presented an absolutely unexpected perspective on the essence of things and problems through the prism of his works at the exhibition Art in Boxes exhibited at GALLERY-1969.

It is difficult to count the number of exhibited works, as it is quite obvious that it took more than a year to create such a quantity. This is a colossal volume of work, which requires enormous concentration, thoroughness and, naturally, a clearly expressed thought. The conceptual view of artistic side of Bahram Baghirzadeh is a provoking motive for the intellect of the viewer! Many residents of Baku of varying ages viewed the presented works with curiosity and slight surprise. It was quite obvious that they re-discovered Bahram. It seems that no one expected to discover in the member of the KVN team - a jovial person, humorist, and lyricist - a philosopher and analyst, who can see the problem and raise it to the level of artistic generalization. His works, so different in form and content, combine the stylistics of the Aesopian language, expressed not in texts but in installations. And the chosen form of presentation (box) is limiting the space of thought by the predetermined plot while strengthening the author's concealed thought.

His works can be divided into plane and three-dimensional installations. There are a lot of them. And each one of them contains an encoded thought-message to his contemporaries. About what? It is up to us to solve them. The exhibited works are not accompanied by titles. It is because the author left it to our imagination, as if he wants us to find our own theme in his works. The one that we can see and read ourselves, without clues from the author.

This allows one to turn on our imagination and create our own concepts. There are so many works, and they are so allegorically exciting that it is difficult to give preference to any one of them. They are able to awaken the thought, stir up feelings and emotions.

Old Baku

There are a few works with such nominal names. The author used old photos and tiny human figures. Viewers are happy to review and determine a part of the city the particular snapshot relates to and the associated nostalgic feelings and thoughts. A nine-year-old boy jabbed his finger towards one of the works and asked his grandmother looking at the tram: "What is this?". Grandmother explained. But the kid wanted to know more, where exactly the trams in Baku were, how many of them were available, how they were charged. Then he paused and said that there would not be any cars either soon. Because they occupy a lot of space on the streets and pollute the air. When I asked him how we were supposed to move in the city, he answered that people would not need cars. They can move around themselves. How? Just by air, with the help of thought...

Up

There is a man standing on top of a pyramid made of chairs. He looks directly at us. As if assessing the past. The path to achieve his goals was not easy for this character. This is a careerist, who changed many office rooms and chairs before reaching his cherished goal. What did he leave behind? Whose fate he had managed to break, like one of these chairs? He looks at the world from a height of the achieved position and it seems he does not quite understand what to do next: whether to enjoy this day, or to strive higher?

Knowledge is Light

The children of the Soviet period remember this phrase quite well. Not only they remember it but they also know the truth behind it: the knowledge implies light, strength, and wealth. This is something that no one can ever take from you. This is what can become your support, weapon, privilege. Blessed is the one who understands and accepts this statement as a concept for action. Such a person has a great future ahead.

Old City

At first glance, it is difficult to understand if it is a watercolor or photograph. Then one realizes that this piece of work combines a picturesque photograph and human figures. But this is not the main aspect of the composition! We can see men of varying age, those who actually live in a fortress. Well, which one of the residents of Baku does not know the meaning of the defining word krepostnoi?! Krepostnoi is a certain code of honour, behavioral style, attitude towards "friends" and "foes", the mode of treating women, etc. Alas, but all this remained back in the distant 60-70's of the last century. And in between the 60s and zeros is a woman frozen in indecision. She is in a modern yellow dress. At all times, the Woman was a subject of worship and respect for the krepostnois. Is this true today?

Imitating Newton

A tiny figure of a man is standing under a big red apple. He seems to be frozen in anticipation of enlightenment, waiting for the opportunity to scream Eureka! But the apple is so big and contrasting the man's small head! Well, such a small head cannot comprehend the idea stemming from ​​an apple! That is why there are no geniuses, discoveries, cultural upheavals, and, at the same time, creativity any more. Perhaps because the people lost their ability to feel like a Co-creator?

Nostalgia for the Past

When the trees were big but we were small, when there were few cars but many horses, when the police was called militia, the world seemed to be orderly and organized. After all, we did not have to make decisions and act. We just had to grow and study. The adult world offered us a reliable model of the future. It was many years later when we became adults that we realized that there were no reliable models since the time of the First Rome. So, sometimes we want to return to the childhood, where the trees were big but we were small, and the world was huge but reliable...

The Year of the Pig

The pig eating the months of the astrological calendar looks busy and dispassionate. She is just eating: month after month, day after day. Very soon the year will already remain in the past... What's left? The uneaten pages? And what happened? There's nothing to recall...

Remembering the Childhood and Gaidai

At the exhibition, the visitors were presented the postcards with still images of films shot in Baku: The Amphibian Man and The Diamond Arm. Needless to say that the Diamond Arm was not just a hit film that broke into quotes. It is a witness of something more. And this "more" remains in the lives of the Baku people with a quality mark. Time belonged to people and gave opportunities, which no one would even think about.

Hostages of Time

The clock is mounted in a case for glasses, which can also be interpreted as a small bag or a washbag. Let's call it a Time Sac. The dial shows five minutes to two. It does not matter if it is night or day. In the East, the nighttime from two to five was believed to be the time of the Bull. As a rule, during this period the souls would leave human bodies and earthly limits. The contents of the Time Sac are people. More precisely, their legs sticking out from above. And next to it is a huge, queue-bound turn. And they all wait for their time. Waiting in different ways. Someone is humbly frozen in anticipation, and someone is in a hurry to have time to enjoy the last joys. Even if it's just seeds from such a memorable of Soviet childhood paper sac...

This is just a small part of the works presented in Art in Boxes. But each of them is a thought in action. Installation is one of the shocking trends in the visual arts today. After all, you can just throw a sheet of paper in a certain space and make the viewer think: why a sheet? Why this colour? Why it lies at such an angle? What did the artist want to say? He wanted to say nothing! It's just a provocation! For Bahram, everything is reconciled with thought, emotion, and mood. In May, he plans to hold a personal exhibition of his photographic works. It is interesting to guess what new Bahram has managed to spy in our life for the past year...