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At Peace, pastel on
paper, 23 x 43"2
His World, oil on linen,
84 x 168"3
Daud Akhriev with his
48-by-48-inch painting
The Arrival.4
Western Bride, oil on
linen, 40 x 48"AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR AWARD OF EXCELLENCEA
s a child growing up in the Soviet
Union, Daud Akhriev began on his
artistic path in the first grade when his
teacher noticed he enjoyed drawing. Then,
the director of his fine art elementary
school became an important figure in
the shaping of his career. “He was the
one who introduced us to the standards
of quality and thoughtfulness to which
I hold myself today,” says Akhriev, who
later studied at the Art Academy in
Russia. “The way he treated the young
students encouraged seriousness and
achievement. He was the one who said
to us—and we were under the age of 14—
‘You are the next building blocks in the
construction of human culture. It’s your
obligation to be the best quality.’”
Working as a contemporary realist
today, Akhriev says his work is influenced
by the Art Nouveau style particularly in
his dedication to detail and in his mosaic
work. The subjects that populate his
pieces are often drawn from his family
and cultural history. “I find inspiration
from music, poetry and film—my wife andI are huge fans of the cinema. And many
series of my work result from travel. It’s
one of my most important inspirations.
My formative destinations are Morocco,
Spain, Russia, Italy and around the United
States,” explains Akhriev. “Conversations
with different people spark ideas, seeing
different customs, new decorative forms.
After establishing a studio in Spain,
my wife and I were astonished at the
beautiful customs even in our quite small
Spanish village.”
The underlying theme that runs
throughout all of his works is humanism.
He adds, “It is important to me to seek the
human spirit at its best, in all its complexity.
The subject is endlessly interesting. What
does integrity look like? How does wisdom,
enthusiasm, joy show in the human face
and body language?”
One such example is the artist’s
painting His World, which evolved from
his series Weathered People. The series
“featured individuals, often people who
labor intensively, showing their stoicism,”
Akhriev says. “No matter how hard theirlives, they retain their integrity.”
His World used reference materials
gathered in Morocco “during a time when
the media frenzy went crazy selling fear
to the world,” recalls the artist. “Many
people’s behavior is changed by the
media selling ‘news.’ Fear was in people’s
conversation and in their lives regarding
the modern world. I realized that one
has to disconnect from the direction of
popular culture and decide for one’s self
what is right, what is fair, what is decent.
No matter what conditions there are in the
situation, one should try to have dignity
and do the right thing.”
Akhriev further explains, “I did use
the seagulls, which are often obnoxious
and loud birds, to represent the chaos
of the world not affecting the hero of the
painting, who maintains a sense of calm
and stays his path, despite the cacophony
of the birds.”
The artist works in many different
mediums—oil, pastel, mixed media,
sculpture—because he finds that each has
qualities that are better in one than theThe Human Spirit
Throughout the paintings of Daud Akhriev is an underlying theme of humanism.
DAUD AKHRIEV
[email protected] | http://www.daudakhriev.com1