The exhibition opens with a portrait of Sulgun by her husband, People’s Artist of Turkmenistan Annaguly Khojagulyev. The artist depicted his wife’s portrait amid versatile narrative elements as the metaphor of her richly diverse and creative ideas.
Annaguly told us an amazing story during our conversation. Nearly 50 years ago he met Sulgun for the first time, and she looked very much like she is depicted in the portrait – young and beautiful with two long black braids. By the time they got married he had graduated from Stroganov Moscow Arts and Industrial Institute and was working as a teacher. Although Sulgun did not have art education, her eyes lit up whenever she saw paints and a canvas. Having noticed this, Annaguly, her husband, also became her khalipa (mentor).
- Apparently, it is a subjective opinion, the artist said, but I sincerely believe she was my most talented student.
But then again, Sulgun Khojagulyeva’s fellow artists highly praise her works. For instance, People’s Artist of Turkmenistan Baba Ovganov admires her active and vivid imagination and her exquisite sense of colour. Aya Serkhenova thinks highly of Sulgun’s ability to incorporate multiple characters and narrative elements into a single painting while preserving a harmonious balance.
Sulgun painted her works in the miniature art genre. Her flat-style and multi-figure paintings tend to resemble carpets. The palette of colors widely used in carpet-making makes the likeness even stronger. Sulgun was a Turkmen woman and these techniques ran in her blood. What is more, she was well familiar with everyday life of rural people, whom she portrayed in her paintings.
Annaguly taught his wife how to hold a brush, to prime a canvas and the other tricks of the trade. One after another Sulgun created the works: ‘In the Yard’, ‘Kurban Bayramy’, ‘Musician’, and many others. The exhibition brings together more than a hundred carpets and tapestries, and each of her work is imbued with sincerity and love. A notable example is ‘Musician’, which depicts not just a musician playing the dutar, but the one who is in love. The man himself cannot hide his happiness and this makes even his dutar sound more cheerful.
When it came to tapestries, Sulgun Khojagulyeva had a different approach here. As she sat with her head bent over the frame, she let her imagination run free. And it usually transported her back to ancient times, thanks to this yarn turned into metaphorical scenes. To convey the underlying meaning the artist used the stylized design. Her tapestries often feature a camel with a triangular body, like in ‘Ancient Times’ and ‘Hunters’.
In a tapestry entitled ‘Avaza’, created in an original manner, the artist depicted the sea with its inhabitants - silver fish of all shapes and sizes in the blue vast expanse of water.
‘The Tree of Life’ in pale yellow hues is remarkably beautiful. Birds call the tree their home, building their nests on its branches to hatch the young. The artist’s favorite character, the camel, finds shelter under the tree. A goatling also enjoys the refreshing coolness in the shade of the green giant tree. As for green, surprisingly, Sulgun did not use the color in the tapestry. Leaves of the tree are blue, gray, and black. The yellow and pink background is associated with the sun-soaked soil, which supplies the massive roots with everything necessary.
Visiting the exhibition of works by Sulgun Khojagulyeva, I unwittingly asked myself where she made the most of her talent: in her paintings or tapestries? Yet, does it really matter, when speaking about the extraordinary artist and craftswoman, who created metaphorical, incredibly positive and life-affirming works…
