We didn’t manage to seek out galleries and art spaces in Kazakhstan. They were not close to the places where tourists go. Nor was it easy to find good quality Kazakh handicrafts. That makes me suspect that the market for art is very small. It was only in museums that we came across examples of contemporary Kazakh art. Artists were constrained at one time by the requirement that art follow what is called today the Soviet Realist Style. Even while keeping within this style some people could produce interesting art as you see in the gallery below. Since the country’s independence, Arabic calligraphy has begun to flourish. I’ve blogged elsewhere about an exhibition that I saw. The big space between these two poles is being filled up, as we realized from the museums in Astana and Almaty.
I found several interesting pieces among the older, realistic, works. The sculpture of the violinist that you see above drew my attention because of the look of concentration on the face of the subject. The two prints were interesting because of different reasons. The one of the mother and child dealt with shapes and abstractions while the one with the road and the rails played with space while remaining within the political boundaries of the time.
In another room in the museum I’d seen a much older sculpture which was called the Second Tobolsk Thinker. Many of these large pieces of sculpture which are found across the world are ritual objects. I’m sure art was put to decorative use, much in the way that we do, at all times. But the money for these large pieces once came from organized religion (as it does today, from banks and tech companies). Although this piece is far from contemporary, I put it here to show that ancient forms from this region continue to influence modern Kazakh artists.
The bronzes and ceramics which I show in the gallery above seem to me to be consciously searching for a national identity. This is only to be expected from a country which has been in existence since the very end of the previous century and has to deal with the many ethnicities that live together. Even in terms of religious belief it has to find a balance between the more recent Islamic and Christian faiths, the older Buddhist and Zoroastrian beliefs, and the ancient Tengriism of the nomadic ancestors of large parts of Asia and Europe. Artistic inspiration is taken from all these strata of history.
Among the galleries of paintings I found myself getting bored. I have a blind spot when it comes to representative paintings; I get bored of them very quickly unless the artist has tackled a technical issue. The only photo I took was of this interesting mixed media piece: ceramic and paint. The artist has taken the nomadic history of Kazakhstan as his inspritation. It’s part of the overall post-independence theme that I found: a search for the notion of Kazakhstan. No wonder the art is so interesting. I just wish there was an easier way to engage with it: galleries and art spaces, for example.
But heft is not what I look for in art. There has to be a lightness of being (now where did that come from, I wonder). The two sculptures you see in the video above have that quality of fun, while still being accomplished works. You need to walk around both in order to see them properly, so I thought of taking a video.
Don't hold your breath 
