NIYAZ NAJAFOV

Born in 1968 in Baku (Azerbaijan), the painter Niyaz Nadjafov represented his country at the Venice Biennale in 2009 and settled in Paris in 2010. His exhibition "Dancing on Bones" at the Gazelli Art House in London in 2013 revealed him in Europe, with an English art critic comparing him to Francis Bacon for the tragic power of his canvases. His works are now displayed in the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Italy, notably at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rovereto, Germany, Denmark, Egypt, and the United States.

Marked by a difficult youth, Niyaz Nadjafov translates his existential anguish into his paintings. He often depicts men and women in strange postures with exceptional intensity. This is due to his drawing, the way he distorts bodies, but also to his powerful, warm colors. In this perpetual struggle of a humanity he feels as fragile and which is his recurrent theme, whimsical details often add a touch of hope. Becoming famous in Azerbaijan, Niyaz Nadjafov, so far from the cold and calculated conceptual art that invades the media space, is undoubtedly a master of contemporary expressionism and a magnificent colorist.