He is a Russian artist. Kouliev was born in Nalchik – a capital of Kabardino-Balkaria– to the family of Balkar poet Kaisyn Kuliev. His elder brother, Alim Kouliev, is a Russian-American actor living and working in Hollywood. His eldest brother, Eldar Kuliev, is a Russian film director and screenwriter. Kouliev has been affected by his father’s surroundings of artistic masters and has started to paint since his childhood. Azamat Kouliev as a student was studying artistic schools of all periods patiently and hard. His work deeply influenced by one of the greatest painters of all time Leonardo da Vinci and others Italian Renaissance painters. The Balkarian folklore theme and poetry of his father also have a reflection in Kouliev’s paintings. After a graduation from high school in Nalchik where he was learning basic skills of art he moved to Leningrad and became a student of The State Academic Art School which he graduated successfully in 1981. Since that he was working at The Art Foundation in Nalchik. After serving in the Soviet Army in 1986 Kouliev returned to Leningrad and studied at the Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture,formally known and subordinated within the Russian Academy of Arts,under direction of Andrei Mylnikov, ( Russian: Мыльников, Андрей Андреевич ), an acclaimed Russian artist, Vice-President of Russian Academy of Arts, and graduated in 1996.Since 1998 artist is living and working in Turkey. Since 2010 he is working as a lecturer at Anadolu University Fine Arts Faculty.
Memento Mori / Ölümlü Olduğunu Hatırla…
Aileden gelen bir sanat duyarlılığıyla büyüyen ve çocukluğundan itibaren resim yapan Azamat Kuliev’in resimleri, eğitimini aldığı Rus Akademik geleneğini, Rönesans, Barok gibi akımların izlerini ve ikonografisini bünyesinde barındırıyor. Bağlı olduğu Akademik gelenek bir yandan Rus gerçekçiliğinin ve Rönesans’ın izlerini sürerken, ele aldığı konular Giorgione’den, Caravaggio’ya, Velázquez’e uzanan nü geleneğinin, vanitasların günümüzdeki yansımalarını içeriyor. Portre, ölü doğa ve dini konular eşliğinde süregelen bu geri dönüşler Azamat Kuliev’in resimlerinde göze çarpan bu geleneksel bağlamı akla getirirken, Kuliev’in tüm resimlerinde etkisini hissettiren mistisizmi vurguluyor. Günümüzde etkisini yitiren geleneksel sanat Kuliev’in resimlerinde ön plana çıkarken, bir elinde içki kadehi diğer elinde kurukafa tutan alaycı figür, ölümün kaçınılmazlığını, hazların geçiciliğini vurgulayan vanitaslara ironik bir şekilde göz kırpıyor, pieta sahnelerini akla getiren “Arzuya Düşüş” isimli resim geleneksel çerçevesinden koparılarak detay olarak veriliyor ve bir haz nesnesi olarak vurgulanan çıplak kadın bedeninin geleneksel temayla birleşen modern dünya algısındaki görüntüsünü ortaya koyuyor. Kuliev’in resimleri bir yandan günümüz insanının yaşadığı yalnızlığı, arayışları ve kayboluşları yansıtırken bir yandan da tüm zamanların ruhunu çağdaş realist bir dille günümüze taşıyor…
Memento Mori / Remember you are mortal…
Azamat Kuliev, who has been grown with a sensitivity of art coming from the family and has been painting from childhood, includes the signs and iconography of the periods like Renaissance, Baroque and the custom of Russian Academy which he has studied. The academic custom, he is connected, follows the signs of Renaissance on the one hand, on the other hand the topics he deals with include the reflections of vanities and the customs of Giorgione, Caravaggio and Velasquez. While the returns in the paintings of Azamat Kuliev, ongoing by the portrait, naturmort and religious topics, suggest us the traditional context, at the same time they emphasize the mysticism, making us feel in all painting of him. In Kuliev’s paintings the traditional art, losing its effects nowadays, comes to the forward, while the cynical figure holding a drinking glass in one hand, and a skull in the other hand, is winking by an ironic way to vanities which emphasize the inevitability of death, the transience of pleasure, the painting with the name of “Falling to Desire “is given us as a detail, is picking us off from the traditional art frame and is presenting the appearance of women in modern world perception which is joining with the traditional theme of nude women. The paintings of Kuliev both reflect the loneliness, seeking and disappearance today’s people live and carry the soul of all times with a modern realistic language.
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