Interview with: Cesar Mammadov

August 2025

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​​Welcome Cesar Mammadov, first tell us about your background and why you chose to pursue this career. Do you remember the first artwork that stirred something inside you?

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Thank you for having me. I was born in 1988 in Baku, Azerbaijan, into an artistic family—my father, Sakit Mammadov, is a well-known painter. Growing up surrounded by creativity, the path toward becoming an artist felt natural to me. From an early age, I was drawn to colours, shapes, and the expressive power of images. I vividly remember watching my father paint and being captivated not only by what appeared on the canvas but by the quiet intensity and focus of the process. That environment had a profound impact on me.

The first artwork that truly moved me was one of my father’s own pieces, a painting of a rain-soaked street in Baku. It wasn't just the technique that caught my attention, but the mood it conveyed: calm, introspective, and timeless. That painting made me realise how deeply art can communicate emotion without needing words. It was then that I knew I wanted to devote my life to capturing such moments through painting.

This led me to study at the Azim Azimzade Art School and later the Academy of Arts of Azerbaijan. Over time, I developed my own artistic voice, focusing on figurative realism and the poetry of everyday life. Whether it’s a bustling market, a quiet city corner, or the serenity of rainfall, I aim to portray scenes that invite viewers to pause and reflect.

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How would you describe your artistic practice? What are the recurring elements, themes, and concepts you refer to?

 

I work primarily within figurative realism, but what truly drives my practice is the desire to give weight to moments that might otherwise pass unnoticed. Much of my inspiration comes from city life, the everyday scenes, the cultural textures of different places, and the way people exist within their environments. A fisherman waiting by the water, the hum of a local café, or the stillness of a rainy afternoon — these are the kinds of moments that resonate with me.

 

Water is something that appears again and again in my work. It’s more than just a visual element; it represents continuity, reflection, and life itself. Rainfall, canals, shorelines, these settings help me create a sense of calm and introspection.

 

Architectural details also play a big role. I often paint from elevated or slightly skewed perspectives, flattening space just enough to hint at memory and perception. It’s my way of creating scenes that are grounded in realism but filtered through a personal, almost poetic lens.

 

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What inspires you? Where do the ideas come from? How do you develop your projects?

Inspiration comes from many sources, travel, conversations, architecture, even silence. I observe how people interact with their environments, how cities breathe, and how moments shift when seen from different angles.

I often take photographs or make sketches during my travels, whether I’m in Paris, Venice, Baku, or New York. These then become the basis for new works. The development of each project is quite intuitive; I begin with the emotional tone I want to express, then build the composition around that,  always grounded in realism, but with subtle abstraction or stylisation in light and perspective.

Sometimes, inspiration is less about a specific image and more about a feeling — nostalgia, solitude, or serenity — and I try to translate that into visual form.

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Clearly, you have a distinct and identifiable personal style; how did you develop it? Was there a specific person or movement that inspired you?

 

My personal style developed gradually, through years of observing, studying, and refining. Being raised in an artistic family had a strong influence, my father, Sakit Mammadov, is a renowned painter in Azerbaijan, and his commitment to art certainly shaped my foundation.

 

At the Azim Azimzade Art School and the Academy of Arts of Azerbaijan, I immersed myself in classical training, but it was outside the academic structure, through travel, introspection, and experimentation, that I truly found my voice.

 

Although I admire various movements, from Impressionism to hyperrealism, I never consciously followed one school. Instead, I borrowed what resonated, emotional depth, compositional clarity, rich use of colour — and let those elements evolve organically in my own practice.

 

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What do you want your art to convey to the people who see it?

 

Above all, I want my work to offer a moment of pause. We live in a world that moves quickly, often overlooking the beauty in small, everyday scenes. My goal is to remind viewers that there’s poetry in the ordinary, whether it’s a wet pavement reflecting city lights, a fisherman waiting by the dock, or strangers passing by each other on the street.

 

I aim to evoke a sense of calm, reflection, and universality. Even when I depict specific locations, I want the emotion to transcend geography, for people from anywhere in the world to connect with the scene and feel something familiar, something human.

 

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What projects will you be developing during this year? What about the next one?

 

This year has brought some exciting milestones. I recently exhibited in Dubai as part of World Art Dubai, an incredible platform to share my work with a wider international audience and engage with collectors, curators, and fellow artists from around the globe. That experience has created new ideas, and I’m currently developing a fresh series of paintings and graphic works that explore urban stillness and the emotional texture of everyday life.

 

I'm also in early discussions for several collaborative projects, including a potential group show abroad and a visual book that weaves together my work with written reflections, something more narrative in format, which I’ve been wanting to explore for some time.

 

Looking ahead to next year, I plan to continue building on this momentum. I'm hoping to participate in more international fairs and show my work in new cities. There's also a desire to experiment more boldly, not necessarily changing mediums, but deepening my exploration of composition and light. Wherever it goes, I want the work to stay rooted in the calm, reflective tone that defines my practice, while also opening new visual conversations.

 

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We are at the end of this short interview, would you like to add something about your artistic research? How did you find the collaboration with our gallery?

 

I see my artistic research as an ongoing process, not something with a fixed destination, but a continuous dialogue between observation, emotion, and memory. I'm constantly refining how I portray the essence of place and human presence through light, architecture, and atmosphere. What interests me most are the quiet tensions, the small moments of stillness that often say more than grand gestures ever could.

 

As for the collaboration with your gallery,  it’s been a real pleasure. I appreciate the thoughtful approach and the genuine respect for each artist’s vision. It's refreshing to work with a team that not only supports the presentation of work but also values the deeper intentions behind it. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my practice with your audience and to be part of such a meaningful platform.​​​

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