A Royal Dame with the Cat Painting

"Our Angels are always present."-Paulo Coelho Is it possible to imagine a more vivid symbol of Central Asia than the face of a shy maiden of glorious beauty, wrapped in precious silks, radiating a sense of heavenly bliss... How often the works of artists are a mirror image of their own inner essence - and the works of Shakhnoz Abdullaeva, like a unique kaleidoscope, conjure up a picture of this amazing woman with the soft smile. And as you look at it, you begin to believe in the world she has created of angels and eastern princesses... Shakhnoz Abdullaeva's name is well known to connoisseurs of modern Uzbek art. Against the background of the symbolic-metaphoric school, quite popular in the art world, her canvases are immediately recognizable - thanks to favorite groupings of images developed during her years of work, and the meditative tone of her canvasses which fascinate the onlooker with their ornamentation and the richness of her palette... Her artistic journey began at the end of the 1980s, when the attempt to identify a national school of art was once again high on the agenda for Uzbekistan's artists. The Еast, wrapped in mystery, reveling in the spice of life and a painting technique of exquisite linearity, became a leading theme. Shakhnoz's creative work has developed, however, not so much under the influence of contemporary trends but as a result of the circumstances of her personal life - she grew up in the home of Chingiz Akhmarov, the outstanding muralist, painter and graphic artist, whose career stood as an example of the freedom of creative self-expression. It was Akhmarov who inspired Shakhnoz with love for the artistic heritage of East and West. She made her first choice with his blessing when she turned to the style of medieval frescos. The ceremonial scenes of feasts and royal receptions, mystical tribal dances and sacred rituals,seemingly taking place in an atmosphere outside of time - these characteristics give frescos their inimitable charm. One of Shakhnoz's first works of this series was "Ajanta," devoted to the Indian cave temples and monasteries. This was the origin, Buddhist paintings, of her device of depicting angels and goddesses with blue faces in her works - an allusion to their divine favor, the embodiment of a connection with a higher, heavenly world.