Aziza Shadenova: Wings

The Wings watercolour series connect to Aziza Shadenova’s recent interest in the shapes and forms of vintage starched collars. In her sculptural works, the artist uses the collars to create abstract forms that explore symmetricity and tessellations. In these three-dimensional works, the collars recall the geometric and ornamental styles of ancient architecture, transforming the everyday into the divine. 

Made exclusively for Ainalaiyn Space, these paintings emerged from an enhanced understanding of the collars’ material qualities. Shadenova uses the delicacies of the watercolours and the image of the butterfly in contrast to the collars’ own rigidity; something that could have only been discovered through thoughtful and conscious play with these historical garments. 

Wings continue Shadenova’s exploration of juxtaposition, especially in relation to shape and form. The collars are each a different style, ranging from the stark points of the Spearpoint collar to the soft curves of the round collar, but all were widely produced. Butterflies have a unique arrangement and colouring of scales according to their species. Even within Shadenova’s watercolours, the white markings on the butterflies can never be identically replicated, making each piece original and unique. This pairing of garment and insect transforms the collars into butterfly-like wings and so, these new watercolours sublimate a mass-produced object of everyday use into something ethereal. 

The collars themselves are stark white and rigidly formed, in direct contrast to the dark butterflies and the boldness of the inky backgrounds. Yet, each one emerges from a bold wash of colour that gradually lightens as it reaches the edges of the paper, creating a sense of a fragile or fluid aura surrounding them.

Sold individually or as a pair.