Of course, Zamanova is well acquainted with the role of the human body within art and fashion, and how art and fashion are inseparable, particularly when it comes to the bodily form. She tells us, “for as long as I am fascinated by the portrayal and juxtaposition of beauty and ugliness in the media and wider society, art and fashion remain both inseparable and intertwined in my work." She worked with legendary designer, Alexander McQueen during her undergraduate years, putting her in the prime position to witness the interaction between art and fashion. McQueen’s designs showed how the body moves, how the garment affects the body, and how fashion has the ability to subvert norms. Utilising this experience working with McQueen, Zamanova puts these aspects of subversion and movement to use in her paintings through expressive brushstrokes. The long strokes render seemingly tangled, yet thin and flowing pieces of fabric that tie the figures and their body parts together, further adding to their distortion and disfigurement.
The exhibition is particularly illuminating of Zamanova’s artistry in that it features her triptychs in their entirety. In one triptych, her work, Dark Side, is joined by its counterparts Comfort Zone and Fate. Where the arm in Comfort Zone trails off into the vacant space between the canvases, Fate seemingly picks it up and holds it, conjoining the triptych in a way that is symbolic of the exhibition’s themes such as strength and love. These paintings rely on each other to transcend spatial boundaries, creating an imagined, and projected, relationship between them. The third counterpart, Dark Side, shows, by comparison, its wholeness. Where Comfort Zone and Fate’s completeness is projected by the viewer, Dark Side reveals the fullness of its beauty. Like its name, it shows the darker side of any beauty, in that it shows the wholeness of a body without selective mutilation, cropping, or editing.
The final room of the exhibition features works in progress, clay sculptures that she either made with an error or did not finish. Displayed as part of the exhibition, however, they show that any work’s incompleteness is subjective to the artist. Bringing together the exhibition, Zamanova shows her sculptural implications with regard to her paintings. The sculptures bring forth a sense of vulnerability and imperfection that is central to the overall nature of the exhibition. This room gracefully communicates the overall message of the exhibition: self-reflection is a constant work in progress.
After lockdown ends in England on 12th December, the Gillian Jason Gallery is hoping to make private viewings available for booking.