Several works from 2023 are simply “Unti-tled”. These are tense strokes and contours of a human figure or some phantasmagorial creatures painted on dark or bright back-grounds. It is dificult to call these works by Temur portraits, although he does in fact portray a person in his or her surroundings, sometimes on a chair, sometimes at a table, adding some attributes to these peculiar “inte-riors” in the spirit of classical portraits. The saturated colors take their place on the canvas as color fields, emphasizing through contrast the energetic contour of a person, the artist’s broad and temperamental style. Like many masters, Temur feels no need to decipher his paintings. For example, in his works, the viewer’s interest is drawn to the hypertrophied forms of flowers in pots or fanciful vases, which apparently hold some significance for Shardemetov. What is important to this artist is that the viewer is captured by the represen. tation of an emotional message, for behind the ugly images there is sometimes hidden a desire to touch upon existential questions faced by the world today, to evoke an acute experience of these crucial challenges. From painting heads on small canvases, Temur Shardemetov moved to much larger 1.5 meter frames. And immediately achieved new im-pact: spontaneity coupled with the mystery of

these fanciful creatures which could be shamans or something from an ancient ancestral cult. Perhaps that is why the artist constantly returns to this type of image with its reference to the concept of the totem in traditional societies — a spiritual being, a sacred object, a cult object or a symbol serving as an emblem of a group, a family, or a clan. Today as in the past, the people of Central Asia attribute supernatural powers to totems, powers people fear and tremble at. Masterfully harnessing intense colors and expressive forms, the artist sometimes places these heads in a surreal or other equally enigmatic environment. Inciden-tally, Shardemetov’s mask like faces echo Bas-quiat’s characteristic paintings, and continue the traditions of the latter’s Haitian roots.

The work of masters from the London School are also among the references and influences which this Karakalpak artist absorbs and reinterprets.