ATABEKOV SAID

Born 1965 in Bes-Terek, Uzbekistan. He lives and works in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Said Atabekov began his artistic activity in 1993 as a member of the Red Tractor Group; the first avant-garde art collective founded in Southern Kazakhstan after Perestroika.­ As a witness to successive waves of social and political change in an area which saw a transition from nomadic culture through Communism to Capitalism in less than a hundred years, Atabekov explores the intersections and local impact of often conflicting cultures, skilfully identifying and animating elements that reveal their deeper paradoxes.­

Like many of today’s artists, Atabekov’s work spans a variety of media, from video and photography to sculptures and installations. His­ use of ethnographic signs is heavily influenced by recollections of the Russian avant-garde and Post-Soviet realities, along with an intimate and often touching analysis of his condition as a contemporary artist. While acutely aware of the attractiveness of the exoticism associated with the iconographical stereotypes of Central Asian art, he often refers to them with a touch of irony.

Notable recent exhibitions include show at the Sharjah Art Museum (2014), 5thMoscow Biennale (2013), Central Asia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2011, 2007, 2005), Ostalgia, New Museum, New York (2011), Time of the Storytellers, KIASMA, Helsinki (2007), 9th Istanbul Biennale (2005).

CV of the artist

WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF:

E.CITY ALMATY / KAZAKHSTAN : LIFE IS A LEGEND: 05 December 2014 – 08 March 2015

http://aspangallery.com/en/artist/atabekov