This year marks a landmark anniversary for one of the most prominent representatives of the Mary school of painting, the People’s Artist of Turkmenistan Kurbangeldy Kurbanov. He is rightfully regarded as a distinguished master of Turkmen fine art, a virtuoso of graphic expression and a distinctive and subtle painter. His solo exhibition held in Ashgabat this spring on the occasion of his 75th anniversary clearly demonstrated how deeply his unique artistic world resonates with contemporary sensibilities and how close it is to a broad audience.
One can find the signature “Kese-yap” on many of Kurbanov’s works. This is the name of his native village, where he spent his childhood. “Our beautiful aul, where the endless Karakum Desert begins, is for me the past, the present and the future – the very essence of my art,” Kurbanov says. “It is my air, my precious life giving source, my inspiration.”
Childhood memories – of his grandmother telling fairy tales of her own invention and his grandfather, a horse breeder, teaching him to ride – remain in the artist’s soul as a priceless gift. The vibrant and populated world of Kese-yap is the central theme of his art. Women, children, elders and the native landscape are the protagonists of his canvases. Paintings such as “Celebration,” “New Moon,” “Elders of My Aul,” “Tea Gathering,” and “A Walk through Old Merv” are imbued with such spiritual harmony, inner strength, kindness and wisdom that viewers, like the artist, feel sincere admiration for each unique character and familiar landscape.
Kurbanov does not simply depict episodes of rural life. Instead, by gently unfolding the layers of time, he captures centuries-old traditions and collective memory deeply rooted in the history of his native village. The continuity of national values and the philosophical understanding of spiritual heritage form the cornerstone of his artistic language, both in painting and graphics.
As a child, the artist dreamed of becoming a musician. Yet, having once visited an art exhibition in Ashgabat almost by chance, he discovered a remarkable world of color. The impression was so profound that several years later he enrolled in the capital’s art college.
However, his love for music never faded. It resonates in the rhythm of his brushstrokes, in the delicate transparency of his palette, in subtle color nuances and gentle half-tones. For instance, musical nuances are especially evident in his recent cycle devoted to the seasons. One can hear the sound of rain in the blurred hues of spring, or the sharp chords of the sun and a hint of coolness lingering in the heat of summer, or the Turkmen autumn, gradually giving way to winter, ringing with clear, crystalline air.
Kurbanov began his work in graphic art at the art studios of Senezh in Russia, as part of the group led by People’s Artist of Kazakhstan Yevgeny Sidorkin, whom he regards as his teacher. He recalls with great gratitude those trips to the Moscow region, including his first encounters and exchanges with colleagues, lively creative discussions, new impressions and his search for an individual style. Starting with lithography, he gradually moved toward unique graphic techniques, using ink, pen, and colored pencil.
According to the artist, he never creates preliminary sketches in either graphic or painting work. As he explains, “brush must be free, but in sketches you start adding or subtracting, and in the end you confine yourself to constraints.”
The flight of his imagination captivates and mesmerizes. One can spend hours gazing at the flawless, free lines in his drawings, trying to unravel the intricate web of images and associations and navigate the labyrinth of his rich imagination in search of the artist’s original intent.
Kurbanov once noted, “graphic art is my biography.” In this sense, he considers his graphic series “Reading Chingiz Aitmatov” biographical. He admits that he did not aim to illustrate the writer’s works. Instead, alongside Aitmatov, he relived the most emotionally intense years of his own life, returning to the cherished images of the past.
“The artistic world of Aitmatov is very close to me – his ideas, his exploration of human character and fate,” Kurbanov says. “For example, The White Ship is a story about my childhood. It contains everything – joy, compassion, sorrow, sadness and the inevitable maturation of a child’s soul.” His work on this series has been ongoing for many years and remains unfinished. Revisiting the texts, the artist discovers new meanings through the lens of life experience.
Kurbanov is now a master of graphic art recognized well beyond his homeland. The significance of this genre in his work was clearly demonstrated by his participation in a major exhibition of three Central Asian graphic artists in Greece in 1990, where he presented his series “Forty.” These forty graphic sheets encompassed everything that concerned him at the time: love, separation, hopes, disappointments and reflections on the past and the future.
The painter dedicated a series of works to memories of his mother, who passed away early, and to the grief endured by his family. “My uncle Ovezmurad went to war in 1943 and never returned, he was reported missing,” the artist recalls. “We wrote letters everywhere, sought answers, but my grandmother never saw her only son again, though she waited for him until her last day.”
The pain of loss has lived in the artist’s heart since childhood. Only many years later did he find the strength to express it in works such as “My Mother’s Cradle,” “Waiting,” “Departure,” and “Farewell.”
Kurbanov actively participates in the artistic life of his homeland and represents Turkmen art abroad with dignity. He is a frequent guest in Moscow galleries, where his works are well known and eagerly anticipated. Exhibitions of his art have been held in Paris and London. According to Kurbanov, engaging with other cultures through art enriches a person and allows one to see the world in all its diversity.
“Traveling abroad, I try not only to visit museums and galleries but also to learn more about local traditions and the people who live there,” he says.
His travels to Romania and Vietnam resulted in a series of works dedicated to the remarkable landscapes of those countries. His painting cycle “Journey through Paris” reflects his impressions of the French capital—a true Mecca for artists worldwide. On his canvases, the city appears in all its many faces, with majestic cathedrals, famous streets, unique color and pulsating rhythm.
“After my trip to Paris, it felt as though I found a second wind and returned to painting, although I had previously been focused on graphic art,” he admits. “That is the power of this extraordinary city!”
Kurbanov considers himself a man of the twentieth century, yet he remains deeply engaged with the pace and dynamism of the new century. He enjoys modern rhythms, exploring new places and meeting new people, so that later, in the quiet of his studio, he can bring all those impressions to life in his work.
Wherever his artistic and inner pursuits may lead him, one thing remains unchanged. Just as the windswept railway outpost was for Aitmatov, so for Kurbanov his native aul Kese yap remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration and a moral compass in a rapidly changing world.