Traditional and contemporary art of Kazakhstan

The art project ‘The Artist’s Skin’ by Rustam Khalfin (1949–2008), who acted as both artist and curator of the project, was a diverse collective initiative by a group of artists. The project culminated in the curator’s performance ‘The Final Point’, featuring S. Suleimenova and A. Menlibayeva (shamanic dances), and Y. Sorokina and N. Melekhina (the act of sewing a new multicoloured ‘skin’ for the artist). During the performance, the artist ‘shot’ arrows with paint tips from a bow at seven objects placed on a target. The random traces of paint left on each object constituted new works of art. The artists’ actions were accompanied by an original musical composition by the renowned composer Bakhtiyar Amanzholov. Rustam Khalfin, recognised by researchers as an innovator of Kazakh art in the 1990s, combined in this performance the techniques of ‘action painting’ (dripping, tachism) – the natural imprint of colourful traces left by an arrow in flight – with the practice of wielding the formidable and accurate weaponry of the nomadic past. The artist stated that the concept of ‘nomad’ is associated with heightened mobility and the ability to transcend physical and cultural boundaries. “‘The artist’s skin’ is a new metaphor for the painting. The artist’s skin is everything connected with the artist’s personality, with his tactile perception of the world,” Halfin explained his creative stance in an interview with Andrei Lednev.

Source: Art Discourse’97