Where does smoke begin and where does it end? Where is the beginning and where is the end of black paint on a canvas? Is there something demonic or holy here? Each person will decide for themselves.

In Rustam Mirzoev's new series of works, the viewer can sense a duality of meanings. Such as, for example, the color black or smoke. In the black darkness, fears, anxieties, pain, and losses can lie in wait, but if black is perceived as a starting point, as a beginning, as a new opportunity, as something on which bright colors can easily appear, the dullness of this paint ceases to be so frightening. Smoke, on the other hand, may seem to be something that quickly and irretrievably disappears, leaving only emptiness behind. It evokes a sense of instability, transience, and mortality. But behind the smoke, something new, interesting, unexplored, and beautiful may be hiding. There could be a transformation that surpasses all expectations.

There is no smoke without fire. And this fire of desire for freedom always accompanies us Ukrainians. In difficult times, there is more smoke, it clouds reality, and one wants to immerse themselves in it to hide. But the time will come when smoke will once again be perceived only as warmth rising from the chimneys of homes.

Oksana Hoshko