The vocation to be an artist came to Muhadin in the early days of his childhood and now, in his 60th year, he has spent a lifetime dedicated to art. To paint is his life. Gifted with an inner source of never-ending inspiration, the pictures form within his mind as each picture is clearly composed before he sets to work to achieve his mental image.

For Muhadin colour is art and art is colour, which is reflected in his wonderful talent as a colourist. His philosophy is intuitive and shows great wisdom in his understanding of the beauty of colour.

Although very much rooted in his own traditions and people, Muhadin´s work transcends cultural barriers and has a universal appeal, due no doubt, to the underlying spiritual quality of his paintings, which evoke a very personal and deep emotion.
In Muhadin´s art, all seems to be in the service of light, not darkness, imbuing his creations with a healing power that touches the universal soul.

“My goal is to find a language for our times, for the 21st century. I am not aiming at a copy of reality or pure abstraction, but rather I want to unite the two in an abstract reality, to capture the relationship between reality and the abstract, this is what I am searching for.” (M.Kishev)

Muhadin covers a wide range of themes in his paintings which are constant and cyclical, such as the exploration of the concept of space, the beauty of women, the charm of flowers, human emotions conveyed through the animal world, all echoing with the impact of places visited, and his most recent compositions of purely poetic abstraction.

“Abstract painting is a wonderful kind of art where one can feel the music of the colours, where everything is very finely tuned with nothing superfluous neither in the colour or in the drawing.” (M.Kishev)

OPINIONS ABOUT HIS ART

Joan Lluís Montané
International Association of Art Critics:

The poetic art of Muhadin Kishev

Muhadin Kishev’s painting has all the characteristics of poetic art, which may be summarised in the way he deals with the composition, in his subtle use of colour and in the subject matter.

He presents a universe rich in animals, plants, galaxies, sea, earth, woman, signs, symbols, structures, geometry, landscapes, still-lifes, diffuse sequences, war allusions of a symbolic character, cinemagraphic structures, and reminiscences of a certain pop art.

He creates a complex world of elements and themes, interwoven with each other to portray a vision of life, an attitude towards art and a versatility that is only possible through poetic discourse.

In truth, Muhadin Kishev is an artist who works like those of the Renaissance times, with a burning desire to know and to contrast. The creator, always keen to innovate, searches for the unknown, for the unusual, because it is that doubt which characterises those who simply want to learn.

So in this way, throughout the corpus of his work, Muhadin converts the areas of shadow and doubt into splendid light.
His painting is diverse, ranging from his own personal, kind of subconscious homage, to the historic avant-garde, to his daring discipline of colour as a ballast in the process of change and a real support in the pictorial structure of his work.

Muhadin crosses the poetic sea of our complex existence without crutches, flying like a seagull.
His painting expresses, in a completely natural way, the freedom and the greatness of the soul in search of a being or a superior conscience, but without descending into topical or false images. And from there on – all is poetry.

London art critic, Nicholas Usherwood:

"Kishev's work, at first sight, appears almost bewildering in its sheer range and intention. But this variety and profusion is, paradoxically, precisely what all his works have in common, and is very much to the point also, being the completely natural expression of a quite remarkably open and, in the very best sense, child-like delight in the visual and sensual pleasure of simple things. A poetic art like that of Muhadin Kishev's gives heightened awareness to our everyday experience."

El Punto de las Artes:

“Muhadin’s paintings remind us of crystal, of stained, translucent glass, which, allowing the light to pass through, draws our attention, to reveal a chant to tenderness. In his extensive and intense work, which has so many ingredients, what stands out above all, is the tenderness, the mystery, the mastery of the man who dreams, to make us dream, who paints with integrity and with magic, who is transparent even when trying to hide something.”

Nikita James from the Londonsky Courier:

“I would just like to point out, moreover, the personal and artistic courage of Muhadin Kishev. Educated in the academic school of Russian art, at the age of 60, he is not afraid to embrace abstract forms, refusing to be seduced by the commercial gains to be had with traditional Russian art. His success, in my opinion, is due to his clear and crystal view of our world and his personal kindness towards humanity in general.This can be seen from his contact with Spain, where he opens up for us a world of beauty within everyone’s reach.”

Carmen Garrido from the Prado Museum:

“Muhadin’s work is in constant progress due to the urge the artist feels to experiment and to bring to his pictures everything that life offers him, which leads him from the figurative to the abstract, representing any idea or image, from everyday concepts to the most complex.”

Muhadin Kishev´s solo exhibition at the Russian Academy of Arts in Moscow, October 2005

“………………from the very first moment we are impressed by the great variety of composition, colour and style of the paintings in the exhibition. Here we find the traditions of Oriental culture, with its decorative ornamentation, its powerful expression through the use of colour and the artist’s rich imagination, which all play a part in his passionate and unflinching search for a contemporary plasticity of form and the exploration of dimensions of space.

Colour is the main protagonist in the majority of his pictures – it is strong, powerful, even unexpected, with never-ending, multiple subtleties of shades, combined and contrasted in a genuinely limitless range of colour.

It is precisely through colour, that the artist invites us to delve into a world of dreams and fantasies, to imagine cosmic distances and to feel the hidden mystery in the pictures he has created. Muhadin Kishev has such a command of colour that it seems he can express everything and anything through colour, giving voice to the most hidden sentiments, the mood of the spirit and the suffering of the soul.

Muhadin Kishev chooses different ways to express his ideas, moving masterly from one form to another. In his work he shies away from stereotypes, renouncing the easy, worn ways of the past. In his own words: “ My life in art, is like an endless path; where, the more you walk, the more interesting everything becomes to you, and you just want to go on forever and find the end, although there is no end to the path of creativity.”

Efgraf Konchin, art critic, Journal “Cultura” Moscow, 13-19 October 2005