UNUSUAL IN USUAL

Artist Farid Rasulov considers himself lucky in life. Should he want anything, the circumstances surrounding the young artist develop in such an amazing way that Farid achieves everything effortlessly. However, Farid is brimming with efficiency and talent. This young man set himself specific goals and stays the course.

- As far as I know, you are an ophthalmologist. How did a doctor - a pragmatist and materialist - turn into an artist living in the eternal search for the ideal?

- I really don't understand how such a metamorphosis happened to me... I was born in Susa. When I was five years old, my family moved to Baku. Here I went to school and made new friends. At 14-15, my father hinted to me that it's time to begin to think about the choice of the future profession. And this profession should benefit the people and should be for life. So this is what my parents taught me from childhood. Just at this time, my older brother was preparing to enter Medical University, where my father taught pharmacology. I was surrounded by books on medicine, atlases of medicinal plants and pharmacology textbooks. This "neighbourhood" naturally influenced my choice. I told my father that I wanted to become an ophthalmologist and began to prepare for admission to Medical University. I entered and studied at the university for seven years, graduated with honours and went to work by profession. During this time, I worked as a pharmacist in a pharmacy, a first aid doctor and an ophthalmologist. I did surgery and treated patients. But by that time, I realized that my job didn't bring me joy and satisfaction. Working, as they say, "from start to finish", morning rounds and numerous recipes - it's not what I wanted. In the last years of Medical University, I dreamed of art, but carefully concealed it from my family. I thought that my father would be against it. But my fears were in vain: dad supported and encouraged me. I wanted to paint, exhibit my works in the most famous art galleries and travel the world. One day my friend, brother of the artist Faiq Ahmad, introduced me to an art gathering. They were young and talented guys who lived an easy life and did what they liked. They were all members of the Wings of Time Association for Creative Initiatives, which was led by the now deceased Leyla Axundzada. She always helped and supported young talents. I began to watch them work and paint. After a while, I told my artist friends that I also want to draw. In response, I heard it's too late to start from scratch and learn it. But I decided to prove to everyone that it's never too late to start drawing. I very much wanted to become an artist. At that time, I worked in a pharmacy and bought a video camera with money I had saved.

- A video camera? I thought you bought paints and canvas...

- (Laughs) I got paints and canvas a little later. And I began my way in art with an art video. It was a 10-minute video, which I called Inertia. In it, due to the effect of rewinding, a butcher with a sharp knife appeared to "assemble" a lamb carcass piece by piece. It would seem what could be more banal, but the trick is that this butcher was forced to become a vegetarian because of diabetes. That is to say he worked purely by inertia. All this is accompanied by melancholic music. I think I managed to convey the basic idea of the video - it's better to create than destroy. I showed the video to Leyla Axundzada. She liked the idea of my first video, and suggested that I send it to the international exhibition Realities of Dreams (Aluminium III), which was held in Baku in 2007. Then I decided to take up painting. I remember, I bought a brush, oil and canvas. I began to paint. I did it as I could, as it seemed right to me. My first painting - a portrait of an unknown woman - was, as I now think, just terrible. I began to spend all my time behind the canvas. I worked very hard on myself, consulted artists and read professional literature. Over time, I gained experience, so to speak, became a skilled hand at it. I learned and discovered many art secrets. For example, I don't use black paint. I believe that it only "stains" the canvas. Instead of using black, I use "mars brown". My first paintings were exhibited during the Days of Culture of Azerbaijan in different cities - Berlin, Dresden, Moscow, London and at the festival of Islamic art in Dubai. In 2011, the Fabulous Four exhibition was held - my joint work with Orxan Huseynov, Rasad Alakbarov and Faiq Ahmad. We tried to focus on the features of Azerbaijani culture and its smallest and most important manifestations. I exhibited pictures that depicted Azerbaijani national dishes "badimcan dolmasi" and "yarpaq dolmasi".

- A series of your works is devoted to food: fruits, vegetables, Azerbaijani dishes and even scrambled eggs. Why food?

- (Smiles) I love to eat. By the way, I eat a lot. I can eat all night without gaining weight. Apparently, I have good metabolism ... I like to draw food, fruits and vegetables in close-up. Take, for example, green and fleshy feijoa fruits, or purple, blue leaves of reyhan [basil]. The name alone already reminds people of their aroma and taste. The gustatory memory keeps a lot of tastes. And I transfer these same tastes to canvas. By the way, all my pictures are close-ups. At my first solo exhibition, which took place in the Kicik Qala gallery in 2010, I presented a series of works called "The Thing". These were pictures in which I painted the things that I saw before me in the studio for a few months. Things around us are so familiar to us that we don't even notice their intricate shapes and unusual colours. Meanwhile, everything unusual is hidden behind quite ordinary things.

- And how does the direct process of "copying" on canvas take place?

- I lay out, for example, feijoa on a platter, take pictures from different angles, print the pictures and choose the most colourful and "delicious" one, from which I draw a picture, which takes several weeks.

- Tell us how did the Xas series appear? On a bloody background, colorful legs of lamb are neatly lined up. I wonder how foreigners perceive this series?

- Foreigners don't understand this series. This is understandable. For them, the Xas is an unknown dish, but for us, the Azerbaijanis - it's delicious and wholesome food. I think this series is especially liked by our men, who are not averse to having breakfast early in the morning with a plate of nourishing xas. We, Azerbaijanis, know a lot about good food...

- Somehow the series "Azerbaijani dishes" is closer to me. Your dolma on the canvas looks so appetizing. It makes my mouth water...

- (Laughs) The gustatory memory does its job. We know the taste and flavour of these dishes, so they seem familiar to us. Almost all paintings in this series have already found their owners and joined private collections.

- I wonder whether there is something yummy left that you haven't painted yet?

- I'm going to draw dog rose, Zira tomatoes, cornel and cherry plums. I like to show usual foods that cause taste and emotional associations in people. For example, azgil [medlar] is the favourite fruit of my dad. Every time I see azgil, I remember my father. I also plan to write a series dedicated to the magnificent landscapes of Abseron, as well as a series called "Medicinal Plants of Azerbaijan".

- Currently you are working on a new project called Chelebi.

- The Chelebi project is another part of my creative life. The idea to create a local brand came after my participation in the 55th Venice Biennale. At the Azerbaijani pavilion Ornamentation there, I assembled an unusual carpeted room where all the elements of the interior - floor, walls, ceiling and even small decorative details - were covered with cloths with ornaments of the Karabakh carpet. Everyone liked the idea, and the founder of the contemporary art organization YARAT!, Aida Mahmudova, and I decided to create a domestic brand called Chelebi. The presentation of our new brainchild is scheduled for December. We will create exclusive high-quality furniture and design objects using Azerbaijani motives - pictures of the buta, pomegranates, figs and carpet ornaments. The fabric for the upholstery will be produced abroad. YARAT! provides great support for young artists. We have a huge number of talented young people who want to create, learn and show their work to the world.

- Which artists influenced your work?

- My favourite artist is Asraf Murad. He has very unusual and, I would say, strange works. I think there is genius in this strangeness. I really like the works of Tahir Salahov, which are close to me in spirit. You know, in my previous "medical" life, I didn't understand painting and had little idea about art. For me, all artists were somewhat freaky and out of this world. Over time, plunging ever deeper into this world, studying it and gaining experience, I realized that art, in its essence, is unique. It gives people the freedom to express themselves and makes them better.