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Rashad Babayev
b. 1979, Azerbaijan

Rashad Babayev is a painter and installation artist at the forefront of a new generation reshaping the contemporary art scene in Baku, Azerbaijan. His work blends expressionist intensity with minimalist restraint, using color as a primary vehicle for emotional and conceptual expression.
Babayev held his first solo exhibition in 2004 and joined the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan the following year. Since then, he has exhibited internationally, including at the prestigious 55th Venice Biennale. His artworks are part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in Baku, the '20th–21st Century Azerbaijani Painting' Museum, YARAT Contemporary Art Space, and numerous private collections.
Notably, he was selected to participate in Fly to Baku, a traveling exhibition that showcased leading Azerbaijani contemporary artists in major cultural capitals such as Moscow, Rome, Vienna, Paris, Berlin, and Baku. In recent years, Babayev has expanded his creative practice into screenwriting and filmmaking, earning a promotional diploma from the Azerbaijan Cinematographers’ Union for his contributions to the field.

He recently expanded his artistic practice into scriptwriting and filmmaking - for which he was awarded Azerbaijan Cinematographists Union promotional diploma.

Credentials

2024 'Monument to Freedom', Azerbaijan Painting Museum, Baku, Azerbaijan
2023 The Stowaways Feature film by Rashad Babayev, Baku, Azerbaijan
2013 Participated at the 55th Venice Biennale
2012-2013 ‘Fly to Baku’ travelling exhibition, Baku, Vienna, Rome, Moscow, Berlin, Paris and London

Artist Statement

Painting is a mysterious and intimate process for me. I believe that personal intuition and irrationality dictates my style. I often find inspiration from old eastern miniatures and their visions of colour. Colour is the absolute essential element for me in a painting. This way I feel like I am continuing the work of a previous generation of Azerbaijani artists.

Solo Exhibitions

2014 ‘Island’, MOMA, Baku
2004 Q Gallery, Baku

Group Exhibitions

2025 'Spring Flow', Gazelli Art House, Baku, Azerbaijan
2024 'Another Look', Artists Union Exhibition Hall, Baku, Azerbaijan
2024 'Abstract artists of Azerbaijan', Baku, Azerbaijan
2024 'Monument to Freedom', Azerbaijan Painting Museum, Baku, Azerbaijan
2022 'Metacode', Azerbaijan Painting Museum, Baku, Azerbaijan
2018 Screenwriting and Cinematography Debut, Baku, Azerbaijan
2016 ’12?’, MOMA, Baku, Azerbaijan
2015 Yarat Contemporary Art Space opening, Baku, Azerbaijan
2014 ‘Love me, Love me not’, Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan
2013 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
2013 ‘Home Sweet Home’, MOMA, Baku, Azerbaijan
2013 ‘Home Sweet Home’, Azerbaijani Cultural Centre, Paris, France
2012-2013 ‘Fly to Baku’ travelling exhibition, Baku, Vienna, Rome, Moscow, Berlin, Paris and London
2012 ‘Commonist’, Alternative Art Space, Baku, Azerbaijan
2012 ‘Merging Bridges’, MOMA, Baku, Azerbaijan
2012 ‘012’ Baku Art Festival, Baku, Azerbaijan
2011 ‘Foreword’, Alternative Art Space, Baku, Azerbaijan
2011 ‘Land of Fire’, Paris, France
2011 ‘Harmony’, Yeoksam Cultural Centre, Seoul, Korea
2009 ‘Black & White’, Museum Art Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan
2009 ‘Aluminium’, Contemporary Art Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan
2008 Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
2007 Union of Artists, Astana, Kazakhstan
2007 VI International Art Biennial, Tehran, Iran
2006 ‘Transformation of Oil in Artworks’, Q Gallery, Baku, Azerbaijan
2006 ‘Art and New Technologies’ International Festival of Contemporary Art, Baku, Azerbaijan
2005 ‘Man and Woman’, Baku, Azerbaijan
2004 14th Istanbul Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey
2004 ‘Art Caucasus’, International Fair of Contemporary Visual Art, Tbilisi, Georgia
2004 Young artists group exhibition, Baku, Azerbaijan

Solo Exhibitions

2014 ‘Island’, MOMA, Baku
2004 Q Gallery, Baku

Group Exhibitions

“Painting is a mysterious and intimate process for me. I believe that personal intuition and irrationality dictates my style. I often find inspiration from old eastern miniatures and their visions of colour. Colour is the absolute essential element for me in a painting. This way I feel like I am continuing the work of a previous generation of Azerbaijani artists. ”

Rashad Babayev b. 1979, Azerbaijan

Rashad Babayev
b. 1979, Azerbaijan