PHILOSOPHY OF ARTS

It only seems that artists become artists because they want to be artists. In fact, there is some kind of predestination that comes to life with the birth of a person. This sublime title is bestowed only upon those who can bear the burden of responsibility to be the mediators between the Heaven and the Earth. The choice once made by the famous artist Rafael Aliyev is a very confirmation of this statement.

It all started with engraving

When Rafael graduated from high school waiting for conscription into the army, his father arranged a job for him at one of his friend's enterprise. In the Soviet times, the young men and women ought not to hang around idle wasting time and skills. Rafael had worked there for eight hours every day. It so happened that a thin sheet of copper attracted his attention while he was working. He picked it up, and had not left it since. Incidentally, engraving was very popular among the people of that time. The older generation amongst you should easily remember those stamped boards with engraved pictures of Peeing Boys and Giocondas… So, Rafael decided that he would try to turn the thin copper layer into a work of art. His first experience was so successful that his friends advised him to study the craft seriously. And Rafael entered the art school to learn the art of metal processing. Then he graduated the teachers' school as a graphic artist. That's how his simple interest in creative arts shaped his destiny and led him to the world of art. In 1988, Rafael became a member of the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan and the USSR. Working with metal objects was so fascinating that Rafael Aliyev soon left the conventional technique of embossment to invent his own, which now is named after him. For example, in his Farhad and Shirin, Aliyev used a technique that he called "coinage relief".

"Each artist working on metal has his own know-how or a secret manufacturing style. The longer one works the more convincing and natural one's techniques become. The search process is endless. And you are always in this process," Rafael Aliyev says.

"Do you have any other secret tricks for metal processing?"

"More than one."

"For example?"

"For example, I often use epoxy resin."

"One can find many small filigree details embossed in your works. How many tools are needed to create an artistic canvas on the copper surface?"

"More than 300. But I quickly realised that four was enough."

Rafael Aliyev's works gives you an aesthetic pleasure that makes you forget about the difficulties and length of the creation process involved. Khosrov and Shirin, Carpet Weavers, Butterflies, Beetle, Attilla and others are not just works of art, but an entire school for improving technologies, intellectual searches and professional experiments. Over the years, Rafael has created many works that adorn the halls of various museums and private collections in Azerbaijan and beyond. However, any creative artist is always in search of forms and ideas. In the 1990s, Aliyev left engraving to painting. For fifteen years, he has perfected his works with a brush on the canvas. This period of his life is also the period of delightful perfection.

Rafael Aliyev is one of those people who regard the each passing day as a process of creativity, trying to reach the very essence of this concept. That is why he knows many things that any other artist would not have known. He is an interesting person who possesses knowledge going beyond the world of fine arts. He lives on the Earth, he knows how to plant and grow plants and trees, he knows the laws of interaction between the birds… He has his own theory that explains how a person should behave to fit into the diverse world around us properly and carefully: hunting, fishing, gardening, cooking, literature, music. He is a good friend for his two sons and wife. Harmonious family relationships are sources of his constant inspiration. Within the family circle, he is not only a husband and father, but also a teacher, giving painting lessons to his wife and children.

And he is a philosopher too: Are mind and reason the same? Does creativity always mean art? When does a paint become a painting? He is immensely interested in the philosophy of art. For example, he may ask a question, which provokes a long analytical reflection. This fascinating process of reflection in the form of a dialogue is a moment long absent in the communication structure of many people, alas. Now we all live on the run: we do not have time to think and hold conversations behind a cup of tea or coffee, no time for lively communication with each other. This joys of life are completely replaced by gadgets. Therefore, it seemed that the world of the artist Rafael Aliyev looks like an island - lively and very green among online fakes and gadgets, for live communication cannot be replaced with anything.

Painting as a reflection of the world: in and around

Absheron, Blind People, Creator of the Universe, Jazzman, Awakening, Woman with a Hat is an incomplete list of works living in the artist’s house. Each of them has its own emotional background, thought, energy. However, physicists in the 20th century realised that at the quantum level, any material object consists of energy. We also know about this from the works of Oriental philosophers. A vibration is a signal that an artist sends to the world through his works. This signal cannot be confused with any other, for it is individual. It cannot be faked or imitated, for vibration will change its code. The code of Rafael Aliyev is his continuous dialogue with the Universe. It only seems to be inaccessible and endless. But in reality, it is very close. Even closer… Because in each of his paintings, there is a polyphony of emotional sounds. Thoughts are emotions, thoughts are feelings, thoughts are sounds. The universe is full of them. And they have their own colour. In this case, it is the colour of Rafael's emotional palette, who has held three personal and seventeen collective exhibitions so far. Among them are the 8th Beijing Biennale Bright World and Common Future (China, 2019), Once Upon a Time in Azerbaijan (Belgium, Azerbaijani Embassy, ​​2019), Other Colours (Luxembourg, Karabakh Cultural Centre, 2019).

The trustful dialogue between the Artist and the Universe continues. And we are all involuntarily or consciously part of this dialogue...