Exhibition "Communication. 12 Symbols and Meanings" (www.12symbols.uz), on the concept of which its curator from Tashkent, Shakhnoza Karimbabaeva, worked for many months after her trip to Khorezm in 2019, where she discovered the meanings of ornaments and made her look at the creations architects, artisans, painters and even photographers in a new way, starts in a very difficult period for mankind.

​

There is something significant in the fact that the realization of the idea of ​​Shakhnoza Karimbabaeva fell on this difficult in all senses, but special for the ministers of art, moment. And yet, right now, more than ever, it turns out to be feasible and, moreover, relevant due to the global coverage of creations from various collections. The online format allows the author of the project to prove the commonality of human values ​​despite the boundaries that have separated us (and closed), time eras, differences in mentality, religion and culture.

​

For the first time in Uzbekistan, a project is being implemented, when, along with collections of state museums and works of contemporary Uzbek authors V. Useinov, G. Ibragimov, B. Ismailov, Timur Ernst Akhmedov, Victor An and others, the works of masters of the world fine arts are exhibited. Rene Magritte, Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Pete Mondrian, Maine Ray and others are boldly combined into a common exposition field with less famous and so far little known to the foreign art community names. They are united by a single concept, the basis of which is, according to its author, geometry and symbolism. 12 symbols, 12 months of the year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 o'clock of the dial determined 12 human hypostases, considered through the work of the authors in 60 presented works. The subject matter of the visual range and texts is so extensive that in fact it is a kind of encyclopedia of philosophical and artistic knowledge. Even a cursory review of this most interesting material enriches any viewer unusually.

​

However, the exhibition aims at a whole new level of perception. The artist's skill, aesthetics, color and compositional solutions, expressive means and stylistic techniques fade into the background. The dominant principle in the selection, virtual installation and grouping of exhibits is the philosophy of meanings, a deep, sometimes hidden subtext. The degree of the author's skill here is already determined by his skill and manner of conveying meaning - whether he lies on the surface or the viewer receives a challenge to search for him.

​

The most painstaking work has been done, combined with the courage of "search without boundaries" to find confirmation of their idea of ​​uniting seemingly incompatible authors into one group and to show that they, in essence, spoke about the same thing with their expressive means.

This exhibition is not for idle admiration and pastime at the monitor screen with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. It cannot be understood on a swoop. She will make the thoughtful viewer work, and then he will comprehend the mystery of deep messages, will look at the world in a new way. She may scare someone away with her complex presentation. In any case, this is a new phenomenon in exhibition life, a departure from the standards and dogmas of exhibiting in the halls of museums and galleries that have developed over decades.

​

Each exhibit is provided with a philosophical commentary by the curator, supplemented by a quote from artists, writers, and great historical figures. They illustrate the contemplated exhibit, sometimes they just send a message, a hint of semantic subtext. The key phrase for the entire exhibition by Rene Magritte “The art of painting, which is better called the art of likeness, can express in colors an idea that contains only images that offer the visible world, intuition tells the artist how to arrange them to express the mystery” and his painting “ False Mirror ”open the exposure by setting the appropriate setting.

​

Shakhnoza Karimbabayeva proposes to move away from the ordinary examination of works, "look into the looking glass", go deep into the depths, find the hidden meaning, comprehend its philosophy. Thus, in Vasily Lysenko's Self-portrait, we receive an invitation to see the meaning of the look from the inside to the future, while the character of Usto Mumin (A. Nikolaev) in the painting The Groom is immersed in himself, his “I”. An attempt to unravel the two most mysterious artists of the famous collection of Igor Savitsky in Nukus is very interesting here. We see the same approach in the interpretations of "Walking in the Park" by Samuil Rubashkin and Mikhail Kurzin's gouache "On a Visit" from the mentioned museum. Perhaps, for the first time, the viewer was invited to go beyond assessing the avant-garde artistic solutions of the 1920s and 1930s in Europe and Russia and their followers from among the non-conformists of the 1970s from the Moscow underground group, stepping back from the already fed up and, to some extent, faceless show according to the principle "From the collection ..."

​

The interpretation of images and compositions was initially stipulated by Shakhnoza Karimbabaeva as her own understanding, thereby giving a message that is difficult to disagree with.

​

​

The proposed display of well-known and perhaps unknown to the general public works and photographs refreshes the audience's perception and is a novelty of curatorial decisions. The visitor to this very extraordinary exhibition will make many discoveries for himself.

​

 

 

Marinika Babanazarova, art critic,

Director of the State Museum of Fine Arts named after I.V. Savitsky (1984-2015)

Director emerita