News

Aidyn Zeinalov, a Russian sculptor with a love for Italy and its art, participated in the Artist Call last November, launched by the Frilli Gallery in collaboration with the Pneuma Art Foundation. The selection of participating artists resulted in the exhibition "Path to Paradise – Verso il Paradiso," which took place from November 2nd to 11th, 2025, in the renowned Sala D'Arme of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.

Each participating artist was assigned a panel from the Gates of Paradise from the Baptistery of Florence, offering inspiration for the creation of a three-dimensional or two-dimensional artwork that celebrates its contemporary rebirth, pays homage to the Renaissance masterpiece, and projects the religious theme of the panels into a new dimension that also embraces social and philosophical concerns.

Aidyn Zeinalov paid homage to the "Stories of Noah" panel with a visually striking work, maintaining the structure of his work faithful to the support and size of the panel designed by Maestro Ghiberti, preserving its traditional bronze support.

The panel dedicated to the Stories of Noah on the Gates of Paradise in the Florence Baptistery (by Lorenzo Ghiberti, now housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo) is the third panel from the top and groups together three key episodes.

The gilded bronze relief illustrates, from left to right, various scenes from Noah's life. In the scene of the exit from the Ark, Noah, his family, and the animals leave the imposing vessel after the end of the flood. This is followed by the sacrifice to God, with Noah building an altar to thank the divinity for his salvation.

The choice to depict Noah's drunkenness as the final scene was unusual, with Noah being mocked by his son Ham after falling asleep naked due to his drunkenness.

The panel's scenes were sculpted by Ghiberti using the "Stiacciato" technique in the foreground and a perspective architecture in the background.

The use of "Stiacciato," that is, the definition of form with a minimal line, was also maintained in Aidyn's work. He chose to represent the idea of ​​"salvation from unfortunate earthly events" in an extraterrestrial vision, transforming the wooden ark, a ferry to salvation, into a spaceship created from high-tech materials and depicting the astronaut in space as a contemporary Noah.

The material language and the dynamic representation of the walk outside the spaceship convey a great sense of involvement, amplified by the gesture in the foreground of the man in space, who extends his hand almost as if seeking the viewer's for a palm-to-palm connection.

The work, on view at Galleria Frilli, is not only a testament to Aidyn Zeinalov's mastery in breaking down barriers between classical and contemporary while remaining faithful to a figurative representation capable of dialogue, but it also confirms the existence of a current art that does not give up the effort of thinking and communicating its thoughts through form without leaving any implication or interpretation, creating parallel dimensions in which to immerse oneself with its own story.