Shambhala

Concept

Junus Karimow is a German artist whose paintings are in private collections in various countries.
In the early days of his career, the portrait and the nude were the artist's main subjects.
Karimov's portrait series are reminiscent of the 1920s, of "New Functionalism" or "magic realism", as Franz Roh called it. Karimov uses oil, acrylic and pastel to masterfully depict different surface textures and materials: Hair and skin, shiny and matte fabrics, wool and silk. In the multi-thousand drawing series "Nude", the artist reflects on the theme "The Power of the Female Body", masterfully using graphite surfaces. The pliable curves of the sitter's bodies are rendered by the artist through the sculptural transitions of the graphite clay planes in a supple and fascinating line.
A move to Germany in 1991 opened a new chapter for the artist. He devoted himself to plein air painting. Influenced by the Impressionists, his landscape painting developed, later becoming increasingly expressionistic.
A large number of drawings, sketches and paintings are dedicated to Venice, the city on the water. The artist tries to convey the connection between architecture and nature, and in this connection lies his idea of the eternity of man - the creator of this architecture, which lives on in the face of changing reality and upholds the principles of beauty and harmony.
Since 2017, the artist's philosophy has shifted towards a search for spiritual, timeless values. Yunus Karimov creates a series of large-scale paintings on the theme of "The Soul of Nature". The paintings in this series express emotions and thoughts about man's connection with nature and the universe, and about the meaning of life. The paintings in this series are like a meditation in which the reality of the image and the artist's play with abstract forms find a fusion to convey the image.

As Karimov further explains, realistic paintings do not represent reality. Rather, art passes through the inner state, which is why emotion plays a central role in Karimov's work. The artist uses light and shadow as a means to create shapes and spaces, and colour as music that transmits energy.