Summer 2003 (11.2)
Pages 36-37

Artists in the Loft
Tofig Gazanfar - Exploring Primitive Folk Style
By Tofig Gazanfar

Contact in Baku:
via Yavar Sultanov at: (994-50) 312-54-70 (mobile),
or Namig Mammadov at: (994-50) 327-09-62 (mobile)
More works at AZgallery.org

Click on photos to enlarge

Just like most children, when I was a child, I loved to draw, too. Later when I started going to school, I joined the "Drawing Circle" at the Pioneers' House. Then I entered Baku's Art School and later pursued formal education at the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Art Institute. I studied with the Design faculty for three years and later continued with the Ceramics Faculty for more 5 years.

I always seek to express and reflect my own character in my works via composition, color, content and philosophy. And I always try to depict reality.

If painting was like pleasurable entertainment for me in childhood, it is turning out to be an essential part of my life as the years pass. Painting is no longer a hobby for me; rather it has become my way of life. It's as essential to me as air and water. For me, not to be able to draw would be like not living.

Contact Tofig Gazanfar in Baku: The Loft, Istiglaliyyat (Parliament) Avenue across the street from Baku Soviet Metro Station, Block 500, 6th Floor, No. 1. Leave message for Tofig with Yavar Sultanov at: (994-50) 312-54-70 (mobile), or Namig Mammadov at: (994-50) 327-09-62 (mobile) to arrange to meet with Tofig. Both of their studios are next door to Tofig's.

You'll find Tofig's works on the Web at AZgallery.org, along with more than 160 other Azerbaijani artists. More than 3,000 art works are featured there. Search "Gazanfar" at AZgallery.org.

This Web site is the creation of Azerbaijan International magazine and was launched in 1999 to promote what was then the "Little Known World of Azerbaijani Art." Today, Azerbaijani artists are becoming more and more well known and recognized as foreigners purchase their works. Many have held personal exhibitions in Europe and the United States.


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