ZHANGY AIVANDAR or “New Wild”
Recently in Kyrgyzstan there have appeared artists who can be rightfully called “wild artists”. The first part of them are really wild, they are not members of the Union of Artists and do not want to be. They are on their own. They like to paint and this perspective is enough for them. These are Gennady Toichiev, Alena Li, Kasiet Zholchueva.
The second are young professionals. And they too work in a completely new way. They attract the attention of spectators and connoisseurs. They are attracted by their sincere focus on creativity: Dastan Temir, Mirlan Sheishenbaev.
The first ones do not suffer from professional templates. But they have no training. The second are educated, but often education presses them with its false authority. And, it seems, in one project, these opposites complement each other, mutually enrich each other.
Art in the USSR was all about socialist realism. Despite the fact that more than 30 years have passed, this project continues in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. And we are happy to see the emergence of young artists who are overcoming this obsessive trend. They have something that representatives of our usual art community do not have. It’s a wild energy. They refute the popular belief that painting is dead. In their brutal, primitive, controversial works, painting comes alive!
The Fellowship Program is about supporting artists to create large-scale, relevant works! It is in-depth artistic research. It’s workshops and master classes and residency work.