Igor Kufayev
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| A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (December 2022) |
Igor Kufayev | |
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 Igor Kufayev (2017) | |
| Born | January 5, 1966 Tashkent, Uzbekistan |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | artist, spiritual teacher |
| Website | www |
Igor Anvar Kufayev /ˈkuːfəjɛv/ (Russian: И́горь Анва́р Kу́фаев, IPA: [ˈiɡərʲ ɐnˈvar ˈkufəɪf]; born January 5, 1966), is a Russian British artist, yogi and spiritual teacher. Also known as 'Vamadeva' (Sanskrit), which means "preserving aspect of Shiva in his peaceful, graceful and poetic form".
Early years
Igor Kufayev was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He was classically trained in art and attended the private studio of the martial artist and painter Shamil Rakhimov. Kufayev was educated at the Art College in Tashkent, and then at the Theater and Art Institute's department of Mural painting. In 1988 he studied in the Academy of Arts (now Imperial Academy of Arts) in St Petersburg, Russia, and in his spare time studied and painted directly from masterpieces of western art in the Hermitage Museum.[citation needed]
Artistic Career
In 1990 Kufayev moved to Warsaw, Poland. An encounter with the art critic Andrzej Matynia led to Kufayev's first solo exhibition, Eternal Compromise[1] at the Monetti Gallery, Warsaw. He was invited to take part in The Meeting of Sacred Images, at the National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw, with his triptych Compromise alongside works by artists of earlier times.[2]
He moved to London in August 1991, the same year his six-year-old daughter from his first marriage died in a road accident.[3] He remained in a prolonged period of grief unable to paint until he was able to come to terms with the personal tragedy and embarked on the series of dramatic paintings. The turning point came in 1994, on the wake of the one-man exhibition, entitled Burnt Earth[4] and dedicated to the memory of his daughter Laura, he put his name on the map of London's art scene as one of the most promising young painters. 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. The Zauber[5] tondo was created in response to the commission Igor Kufayev received from Elton John AIDS Foundation, which was to accompany the performance of Mozart's opera Die Zauberflote at Christie's head-quarters at St James's in London, in the autumn of 1995. A few months later, in January 1996 he was granted British Citizenship.
Kufayev personifies the ancient elements of the Masonic mysteries that lie at the heart of Die Zauberflote: Earth and Water as women, Air and Fire as men, and in their sensual conjunctions, hints at the humorous and erotic sub-texts with which Mozart brings comedy to an opera of high seriousness. — Brian Sewell, Catalogue to accompany exhibition with the performance of Die Zauberflote organized by Elton John AIDS Foundation at Christie's, St James's, London, 1995
The following series of four tondos under the same title, Zauber was an achievement which took two years to complete (1995–1997). Kufayev traveled widely visiting major art-fairs around Europe, as well as painting in France and Italy. Despite his unquestionable success he was deeply disillusioned about the state of art and all its prevalent trends.
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.[6]
— Robin Dutt, writer and art journalist, The Independent
How many know of Igor Kufayev, another driven painter, scrupulous draughtsman, intellect and imagination wrestling with seemingly equal force.[7]
— Brian Sewell, The Evening Standard
Inner Transformation
| The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
An early interest towards spirituality lead to his practice of Yoga with initiation in 1996 to Transcendental Meditation, founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.[8] He immerses himself in the study of diverse spiritual traditions with special emphasis on Indian philosophy, Sufi and Zen.[9] In 2001, at the age of thirty six, in the wake of the TM-Sidhi Program (an advanced yogic course), Igor had undergone a radical transformation of consciousness[10] which subsequently blossomed into spontaneous unfoldment of Grace.
He abandoned his art career and for the next five years he continued long hours of meditation, integrating expanded state of awareness throughout his daily activities. During that time he discovered the teachings of Swami Muktananda which led him to the tradition of Kashmir Shaivism.[8] Its 'transcendental physicalism' appealed to his down to earth, creative sensibility, unique to that tradition's doctrine of Spanda (Sanskrit: "throb, vibration")[11] which had been verified by direct experience, in perceiving the World as a Throb of Pure Consciousness in the Heart of his own.[12]
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.[13]
Spiritual teacher
In 1996 he began to practice Transcendental Meditation. In 2001 he claimed that he had a spiritual awakening.
Since 2002 Kufayev has been sharing his insights into the nature of Being. Despite many requests, he declined to place himself in the role of a teacher until he made the conscious decision to give his full time to teaching in February 2008. Since 2012 he has offered online webinars and in-person gatherings and retreats worldwide.[14] He calls his teaching "The Path of the Heart", meaning a non-intellectual and direct cognition.[15][16]
In 2021, he launched a 3-month online course in Kundalini yoga.[17][18]
Private life
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Igor now lives with his partner and their three small children in Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain. In 2006 he moved back to Uzbekistan and lived in his birth city of Tashkent for almost four years. Between April 2011 and December 2012 he and his family were traveling in Central America with the base in Costa Rica, followed by spending nine months, until September 2013, in Mallorca.
Kufayev has a grown-up daughter from a previous relationship who lives in Warsaw, Poland.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Eternal Compromise – title of the show igorkufayev.com Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Compromise triptych igorkufayev.com Archived 2012-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Kufayev, Igor (20 June 2019). "Interview by Philip Goldberg and Dennis Raimondi". Spirit Matters.
- ^ Burnt Earth – title of the show igorkufayev.com Archived 2012-04-26 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Zauber Series". Archived from the original on 2013-10-05. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
- ^ Dutt, Robin (1 July 1994). "Burnt offerings". The Independent.
- ^ Sewell, Brian (25 May 2001). ""Your Choice for the Turner Prize"". Evening Standard.
- ^ a b "Igor Kufayev - 'Flowing Wakefulness' Interview by Renate McNay". ConsciousTV. Sep 17, 2013.
- ^ "Igor Kufayev - 'The Impact Of Awakening' - Interview by Iain McNay". Conscious TV. 17 September 2013.
- ^ McNay, Renate (September 2019). Conversations on Awakening: Part One. White Crow Books. ISBN 978-1-78677-093-6.
- ^ Kufayev, Igor (Winter 2013–14). "Vibrant Self". Namarupa: Categories of Indian Thought (18).
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ Freimann, Amir. "Living Transcendence: A Phenomenological Study of Spiritual Exemplars". PhD thesis. Israel: University of Haifa.
- ^ Kufayev, Igor; Novgorodsev, Seva (21 October 2006). "Сева Новгородцев, Севаоборот – Igor Kufayev, interview for BBC Russian Service".
- ^ Osto, Douglas (2020). An Indian Tantric Tradition and Its Modern Global Revival: Contemporary Nondual Śaivism. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-04929-9.
- ^ Kufayev, Igor (February–March 2017). "Spontaner Yoga – Von Gnade berührt". Yoga Aktuell (102): 70.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ "Spontaneous Yoga ~ Touched by Grace". Igor Kufayev.
- ^ "Kundalini: The Source of Ultimate Knowledge, Power & Joy". Igor Kufayev.
- ^ Kufayev, Igor (May 24, 2021). "Kundalini: Defining the Undefinable". Watkins Magazine.