By Trend

The ARTIM Project Space has hosted the opening of the Ad Infinitum (lat. “to infinity” or “forevermore”) solo exhibition by Erkin Alakbarli, a member of the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan, organized by YARAT Contemporary Art Space, Trend reports.

30-year-old Erkin Alakbarli graduated from the Faculty of Painting of the Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts in 2014 with a bachelor's degree and in 2016 with a master's degree. The young artist works in the field of painting, graphics, installation.

He has participated in the various group exhibitions such as “The City of the Sun” (ARTIM Project Space, 2021); “Fogs turned into epic story in my head” (YARAT Centre, 2020); "Neither War, Nor Peace" (ARTIM Project Space, 2017), etc.

Ad infinitum exhibition is a result of the artist's inwardly emotional and spiritual journey. It's similar to a personal confession and is full of interconnected narratives, complex feelings, inmost experiences, and close observations, as the artist intends to refer to a reoccurring inner battle in the 'minefield' of life.

These artistic observations of various fragments of human fates resulted in the creation of a series of paintings in which the artist expresses his contemplations and pursuits on the Janus-faced topics of life and death, remorse and guilt, memory and nostalgia, fate, vulnerability, unrealized and tense feelings, expectations, suspicions, and many other topics. The solo exhibition is influenced by the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s poems, which set the tone for the whole atmosphere and the rather poetical approach of the artist.

Site-specific installations and paintings, specially commissioned by YARAT, as well as a video installation, which is a new experiment for the artist, are inspired by extreme melancholy and an irrepressible desire for the knowledge of being and love.

Despite the promises of a fatalistic vision and melancholy, the artist's works do not give the impression of hopelessness, but rather are a reflection in connection with all the initial feelings experienced again, so that they begin to live a new life. Continuing the "marine" motif, often found in Neruda's poetry, the artist sings of the highest form of spiritual activity, love.

The exhibition will be held until June 26 at the ARTIM Project Space (5, Kichik Gala str., Icheri Sheher).