| Igor Kufayev | |
|---|---|
Igor Kufayev in 2008 |
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| Born | January 5, 1966 Tashkent, Uzbekistan |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | artist, spiritual teacher |
Igor Anvar Kufayev (Russian: Игорь Анвар Kуфаев; born January 5, 1966), is a Russian British artist, yogi and spiritual teacher.
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Igor Kufayev was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In his childhood he had many spiritual experiences associated with awakening of Kundalini. Classically trained in art from an early age he attended a private studio of a martial artist and painter Shamil Rakhimov, a place of underground meetings between liberal thinkers, poets and painters. The violent death of his mentor lead to young Igor's decision to become an artist. Kufayev received his formal education at the Art College in Tashkent, and after two years of compulsory military service, resumed his studies at the Theater and Art Institute, at the department of Mural painting. In 1988 he was accepted as a student of a second year to the Academy of Arts [now Imperial Academy of Arts] in St Petersburg, Russia. Independently of his official program, he studied and painted directly from the masterpieces of western art, in the Hermitage Museum.
In 1990 Kufayev left Russia and moved to Warsaw, Poland. This was a formative time. An encounter with the art critic Andrzej Matynia lead to Kufayev's first solo exhibition, Eternal Compromise [1] at the Monetti Gallery, Warsaw. Igor was invited to take part in The Meeting of Sacred Images, at the The National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw, with his triptych Compromise[2], alongside such Icons as the Black Madonna of Częstochowa and Mexican Our Lady of Guadalupe as well as modern masters as Christian Boltanski.
He moved to London in 1991 and became a British Citizen in 1996. The turning point came in 1994, on the wake of the one-man exhibition, entitled Burnt Earth[3], in less than a decade Kufayev managed to establish himself as a successful artist, and opened his own studio in London where he held private views of his work annually. He traveled widely visiting major art-fairs around Europe, as well as painting in France and Italy. Despite his relative success he was deeply disillusioned about the state of art and all its prevalent trends.
Writer and art journalist Robin Dutt wrote in The Independent:
Kufayev is one of a rare breed of artists who believe in going back to go forward... Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1966, he studied at the Tashkent School of Art, where his early love of drawing was honed and refined for four years. He had, in fact, been drawing professionally since the age of 12, and recognized as something of a prodigy... His zeal to perfect drawing technique led him to move to St Petersburg and The Academy of Fine Art and, independently of his studies, he began making numerous copies of the great Western masterpieces hanging in The Hermitage... The whole of his show, Burnt Earth, is redolent of archeological finds - the secrets masquerading as treasures only a few feet under the surface. Blood and earth are unified in Kufayev's vision, emphasising our origins and our certain end.[4]
Art critic Brian Sewell wrote in The Evening Standard:
...How many know of Igor Kufayev, another driven painter, scrupulous draughtsman, intellect and imagination wrestling with seemingly equal force...[5]
An early interest towards spirituality lead to his practice of Yoga with initiation in 1996 to Transcendental Meditation, founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He immerses himself in the study of diverse spiritual traditions with special emphasis on Indian Philosophy, Sufi and Zen. In 2001 he traveled back to his home country Uzbekistan, to attend an advanced yogic technique TM-Sidhi program. On his return to London, Igor abandoned his art career. During that time he discovered the teachings of Swami Muktananda which lead him to the tradition of Kashmir Shaivism.
In October 2006, in an interview with Seva Novgorodsev for the BBC Russian Service, Kufayev talked about his years as an artist and the decision to leave painting. [6]
Kufayev leads an extensive correspondence sharing his insights with other seekers. He emphasizes necessity of meditation together with self-enquiry as the means to facilitate the process of inner growth and transformation. He lives with his partner and their two small children.