‘Unaphtia’ is the second work of the diptych which together
with ‘OPEC+’ completed my long-term project ‘Semiosis of Meta-Abstract Symbols
/ Phenomenology of Freedom’ which lasted 16 years - from 2007 to 2023 - www.niyazmamedov.com/category/underground/page/3/.
The artwork is the vision of the conceptual state Unaphtia -
the name coined by me from ancient Greek 'Oυ-ναφθα' (the word that never
existed before and meaning something like No-Oilia) that I introduced to
establish a society based on fundamentally new economic model and humanistic values.
As the culmination of my many years project exploring environmental/social/political
challenges of our time, the work has become quintessence of my long reflections
on the possible way out of the civilizational impasse into which our society
seems inevitably to plunge.
It was also introduced in Unaphtia my concept of Post-Present
Time - new intermediate form of time flowing in conditions of complicated
modernity for realization of experimentally taken steps towards actual
implementation of the future in the present that is not yet ready to accept it.
Capes - as the most extreme points of
continents, where the energy of three elements is most fully accumulated - are
considered here as critically important locations for realizing Post-Present
Time. As places in a sense mystical, they conceal possibility of generating a
metaphysical energy, which can lead to a deeper understanding of the purpose
and possibilities of art and new forms of its expression.
Surrounded by the sea on three sides,
cape is especially favorable for the accumulation of the energy of thoughts,
beneficial performance and deep penetration into the understanding of the
essential relationship between the element of creativity with the harmony of
nature and the purity of thoughts generated by it.
For detailed information about the conceptual state of Unaphtia,
please follow the link - https://niyazmamedov.com/unaphtia/
This diptych was part of my
many years project ‘Semiosis of Meta-Abstract Symbols / Phenomenology of
Freedom’ that ended in 2023 - https://niyazmamedov.com/category/underground/page/3/. It
has been carried out at the intersection of art and semiotics research, which
resulted in a dozens of artworks and a number of innovations related both to
the formal aspects of art / theory of art and semiotics - Post-Simulacrum,
Signometaphors, Peripheral Meanings-Controlling Signs, Dynamics of the
Development of Meaning, Post-Brand Existence of Signs, Theory of Reverse
Influence of the Sign, etc. - the theories that make it possible to visualize
answers to questions arising from complex modernity.
Much of this research was
carried out in conditions of complete art underground inside the transnational
oil corporation bp where I’d made ‘deep dive’ for the unbiased and unrestricted
studying political/social/environmental aspects of its activity that were the
subject of my interests at intersection of art & semiotics. It was an
unprecedented experience of penetrating the holy of holies of what should be
explored, and when the research was completed, I left the dystopia having sent
preliminarily a letter to bp CEO, substantiating in detail my proposal to
liquidate the oil corporation as axiologically unjustified.
All my observations and conclusions
were described in the theoretical work ‘The Script’ divided in two parts: 'The
Underground' (related to the closed community of the transnational oil
corporation - https://niyazmamedov.com/the-underground/ )
and ‘Art & Signs’ (related to reflections regarding art and semiotics - https://niyazmamedov.com/art-signs/ ).
One of the most significant
achievements (or discoveries) during the project was the Theory of Peripheral
Meanings-Controlling Signs, in which an attempt was made to give the dynamics
of the development of meaning to the static images. The understanding of this
necessity comes from the fact that any image in the picture, being static, is a
priori false in relation to the depicted, since the sign (which is any display
of an object or state), which replaces the referent, always lags in the process
of reflecting the real state of things, and the referent always running away
from us. Any semiotic sign that translates meaning is not a "what",
but a process - the process of conveying meaning - a state that is absolutely
unthinkable in the category of static. Paradoxically, within the framework of
visual art, it is possible to create a conditional effect of the dynamism of
the objects and states under study, revealing in their visuality the process of
developing meaning, which, as it were, has not yet been completed, but brings
us closer to understanding the essence of things, and perhaps still continues.
This is a very visual story.
According to this theory,
such dynamism can be achieved by placing the peripheral meanings-controlling
signs in a pro-semantic zone of gray color, where gray gradations give rise to
a visually perceptible dynamics of the development of meaning - both the
referent of the meanings-controlling signs themselves and the central object
depicted in chromatic colors (placed in the pre-conceptual dynamism of the
background gray zone), supplemented and reinforced by meaningful signs. “In the
shades of gray color of peripheral meanings-controlling signs, the dynamics of
the development of meaning is revealed, although formally residing in the
static nature of what is depicted” - www.niyazmamedov.com/art-signs#17-02-2016.
