Tarana Seid - Artist
Wide, sweeping and pasty strokes of rich tones and shades make her work related to the paintings of the master of national painting of the last century, combined with a purely Klimt’s addiction to golden shades, as if impregnating through the canvas.
The author's canvas brushstrokes bear a distinctive, recognizable signature that, beyond any words, firmly attests that Tarana Seid’s cherished artists’ club includes, among a whole host of others, the names of Mikayil Abdullayev and Boyukagha Mirzazade.
One of the artist’s favorite genres is a ‘still-life’ one. Ecstatic admiration the gifts of gardens and fields penetrates into other genres, where a human seems to complement the regal splendor of nature, and the landscape views are just the causes to show its seasonal changes. All shades of red colour blaze in numerous canvases depicting pomegranates, roses, wildflowers. Golden sunlight spots play in deep water, on fish scales, on the feathers of exotic birds. Episodic cool tones only emphasize this triumph of life – pale-yellow, almost white rose petals, sharp highlights on the transparent glass of a vase, blue overflows of a pattern on porcelain...
The pinnacle of this genre in Tarana Seid's oeuvre can be deemed to be her still life featuring a crystal chandelier. With meticulous strokes, she traces the gleaming facets of the pendants, the golden reflections off the lamp's frame, and the warm flicker of candles. Through all the specificity of the subject, she strives to embody the very essence of light dispersing darkness, almost in an abstract sense.
Yet at times, the artist can transform a still life into something akin to a social sketch with a touch of irony in its title. An example is “The Standoff of Fish”, where the noble gold, whose gleam you'd expect from this artist, turns out to be nothing more than the shimmer of smoked scales upon closer inspection. Such unexpected naturalism, however, carries a hint of challenge: among the various fish laid out here, the one “defying the crowd” unintentionally draws the viewer's gaze.
A typical feature of Tarana Seid’s works is the drawing of ornaments right over the picture. For example, in a still-life with a samovar, this ornament, which is many varieties of the “buta” element, at first glance denotes just a very real pattern on the drapery, but upon closer examination it appears as if “hanging in the air”, with a light veil covering the entire surface of the painting. Another art work, depicting either a mysterious canvas or a mirror in a wide multi-step frame, is also completely covered with twists of the “buta” imitating a light translucent cloth, which you’d want to pull back to see what a mysterious thing edged the frame.
Among the landscapes of Tarana Seid, most are seascapes, and it is not surprising, considering that those are Baku views.
The artist joyfully captures Baku, both in the light of day and adorned with the sparkling array of nighttime lights.
The blue of the sea merges with the blue of the sky, being separated from it only by a yellowish strip of sandy land, recalling the strict colour of rugs of the Baku carpet-weaving group. But the greatest impression is made by the night landscape, where the golden lights of the port buildings on the ground and in the water echo with a circle of the warm yellow moon, to which the arms of cargo cranes rise here and there. There is something surreal within it. By the way, the industrial landscape is not the only reflection of this author on the subject of people and machines. She has art works depicting vintage vehicles – cars and motorcycles.The blue of the sea merges with the blue of the sky, being separated from it only by a yellowish strip of sandy land, recalling the strict colour of rugs of the Baku carpet-weaving group. But the greatest impression is made by the night landscape, where the golden lights of the port buildings on the ground and in the water echo with a circle of the warm yellow moon, to which the arms of cargo cranes rise here and there.
There is something surreal within it. By the way, the industrial landscape is not the only reflection of this author on the subject of people and machines.
She has art works depicting vintage vehicles – cars and motorcycles.
The panorama of her landscapes stretches far beyond the confines of our nation's capital. Tarana Seid, with deep affection, paints the vistas of various corners of our republic. For instance, during her participation in the KHAZART art symposium in the city of Guba, she crafted a canvas titled “Chirag Gala”, dedicated to the ancient fortress in the Shabran district. The fortress's ensemble on Tarana Seid's canvas mysteriously glows in the moonlight, evoking the fact that the name of this architectural monument translates as “lighthouse” because it once served as an observation point, illuminating the area for miles around when necessary.
In 2020, The Victorious Azerbaijani Army liberated our native Karabakh from Armenian occupation. Since then, a whole new genre of Karabakh landscapes has emerged in the country's visual arts. Given the historical circumstances, artworks of this theme have become something more profound for the domestic audience, transcending mere nature views. Tarana Seid has her own creations in this vein. She meticulously re-creates architectural landmarks of Shusha on her canvases. Take, for example, “The Govhar Agha Mosque” with minarets seemingly submerged in the summer's scorching haze, ready to melt in its crucible. There's also her canvas “Shusha: A Ruined History”, a protest against the acts of Armenian vandals. Equally fascinating is the landscape “Misty Shusha”, a title that not only recalls the typical weather conditions of the mountainous city but also the lyrical song “Shushanyn daglary bashy dumanly” (“Shusha's mountain peaks are covered in mist”) by the renowned Khanende Khan Shushinski, where Shusha is likened to a beautiful maiden.
In recent years, Tarana Seid has been actively working in the portrait genre. A shining example is the portrait of Zarifa Aliyeva, a work with which the artist participated in an exhibition during the 2023 scientific conference "The Female Image in Azerbaijani Visual Art" in Baku. Delicate lyricism, a tender golden palette, and a striking resemblance are the defining features of this work. The golden accents in the portrait's border, typical of Tarana Seid's style, are particularly fitting here. They not only harmonize with the overall golden-pastel tones of the piece but also serve as a reminder of the profession of the great woman depicted in the portrait. Zarifa khanum Aliyeva's knowledge and hard work, as a renowned ophthalmologist, restored the gift of sight and sunlight to many people. The golden highlights in the portrait seem like a symbol of the light that Zarifa khanum helped her patients rediscover.
Another example is the canvas “Khurshudbanu Natavan”. Here, Tarana Seid's beloved golden palette coexists harmoniously with the vibrant, ornamented motifs of Karabakh carpets that grace the background of the portrait. In this lavish interplay of reds, burgundies, and purples, the great poetess appears exceptionally light and ethereal, draped in golden silk and brocade. The Khan's daughter leans thoughtfully on cushions, her lips poised to release new poetic verses, as if on the cusp of creation...
To conclude, we can say that Tarana Seid has made an enormous step on the way to the ideal, which each artist has own for himself.
And now, connoisseurs of high art can rightfully anticipate new significant achievements from her.
Nailya Bannayeva, art critic, journalist
Education
1998 - 2002
graduated the Faculty of Law of the Baku State University
2014 - 2018
graduated the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Arts of Azerbaijan