Lola (from the series JONIM)
In his last series of video sculptures JONIM, Denis Davydov studies the migration of the symbolic heritage of the early and late Internet age and the eclectic visual imagery of Central Asia into the present-day reality of late capitalism in its death throws. JONIM (Uzbek ‘dear’, ‘darling’, ‘my soul’) is the result of many years of study of the seemingly lost traditions of the artist’s native land. The work derives from the author’s interest in the oldest surviving Central Asian tradition – ceramics. Davydov focuses on children’s toys and the process of the transmission of the sculptural tradition, as toys (which were often whistles) were made for celebrations, after which they either stopped working or were thrown away. Thus, the form of the object had to be invented anew every year. During the pre-Islamic period, toys had pagan forms – horse, bull, bird or human being. After the arrival of Islam, forms became increasingly abstract yet did not lose their figurativeness altogether. Following the creation of the USSR, toys entered a new phase of cultural evolution, becoming part of the Soviet tradition of decorative porcelain and serving as everyday household items rather than ritual objects. In his series, Davydov does more than just bring together all the stages of the evolution of the craft or find a common denominator that would be adequate to present-day needs. Instead, he makes an attempt to capture his native country’s ethnic and cultural worldview as a whole as it is embodied in material items – a worldview that formed collectively over the ages from generation to generation, from master to pupil.