English:
OtGO solo exhibition „AMITAN“
On May 3rd, at 7 PM, "GODÒ gallery“ located in Vilnius, Lithuania,
presents the solo exhibition "AMITAN" ("Animals") by the Mongolian
artist Otgonbayar Ershuu, also known by his artistic name OtGO. Through
the techniques of traditional Mongolian painting and the language of
contemporary art, the artist opens up his lively creative world and
allows us to get closer to his steppe-covered homeland, no less rich in
its unique cultural heritage.
The exhibition
will take place until May 29th.
Art critic dr.
Vidas Poškus:
OtGO – the real
name OtGONBAYAR Ershuu - born in Ulaanbaatar (1981), an artist and
curator who spent his youth and learned the basics of
classical-traditional painting here, currently resides in Berlin (he
graduated with a Master's degree at the Universität der Künste there),
and is one of the most significant ambassadors of Mongolian art in the
West.
Until now, under
the influence of certain imprints of collective experience, the
imagination relentlessly draws nomads wandering the boundless steppes
or their yurts spread out on the horizon, Buddhist monasteries
enveloped in the mist of incense and throat-singing, or shamanic rites
hypnotized by rhythmic ritual drum beats. On the other hand, even
stereotypes have a certain basis, especially since OtGO is well versed
in the secrets of such art genres as tanka and Mongolian zurag. And all
this is organically interwoven with the language tools of contemporary
art.
OtGO is, first
and foremost, a painter. He uses the canvas as the basis for creating
images and color as the essential medium. As for the methods of
expression, it is both an abstract, brightly colored structure,
slightly reminiscent of woven carpets or calligraphic exercises, with
allusions to screens, and signs turning into abstract silhouettes -
from numbers and letters to plant and human forms. They turn into
ornamented and at the same time full of natural life compositions,
remindful of endless spring meadows decorated with hundreds of flower
blossoms. The sense of infinity in OtGO‘s paintings works as one of the
essential aesthetic and existential categories. On the one hand, the
paintings themselves, being rectangular in format, are endless,
extended to the imaginary horizon line. That is, the viewer's eye
physically ends its journey at the side or lower, upper edges of the
canvases, but the mind can travel much further. The depicted figure (a
gesticulating person, a fluttering animal) also travels from beyond the
depicted reality to the imaginary one. On the other hand, even time is
endless in the works of OtGO. There is an action here, and that action
is like a ritual that is repeated over and over again, without
beginning or end. It just was, is, will be.
In the artist‘s
work, color acts a role of a symbolic code and an instrument of
emotional impact. The most elemental senses are affected by the
intensity of blue, the vividness of red, the sharpness of yellow, the
neutrality of black. When trying to comprehend (or "crack") the
coloristic code, it is simply necessary to use any shape drawn in pure
color as a key. It doesn't matter what it is - a person, an animal (a
person, according to the artist, is also an animal - only the
silhouette is slightly different...) or just a number; with its contour
and pose, with a diligently and carefully applied, simply painted body,
it declares that life, like all creation, is beautiful and that alone
has meaning.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
OtGONBAYAR
Ershuu, also known by his artistic name OtGO, was born in 1981 in
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. His talent was discovered early and by the age
of 15 he had his own solo exhibitions. He studied traditional Mongolian
painting in Ulaanbaatar (1996 – 1998). Following that, the artist
devoted six years to the self-study of traditional Mongolian miniature
painting, working from time to time as a restorer on several research
trips to historical sites in Mongolia.
In the
Buddhist-Lamaist monasteries, he studied various techniques and the
iconography of miniature painting as well as their spiritual background
(1998 – 2004). He also began to make all the utensils for painting
himself. OtGO became a master of Thangka painting, which, according to
the artist, is more philosophy than handwork. Using the finest brushes
and without any optical aids, he painted hundreds of Buddhas,
Bodhisattvas and saints on the tiniest formats: single figurations in
filigree ornamentation. His mysterious backgrounds were a mixture of
soot and milk schnapps, the colours were a mixture of minerals and
plant pigments bound together with yak skin paste.
In 2007-2010
OtGO studied at the Institute of Art in Context of the University of
the Arts in Berlin, and completed with the Master of Arts. After
studying, OtGO opened the first Mongolia Cultural Center in Berlin
(2010-2013) and founded Gallery ZURAG Berlin (2010-2014). It is the
first gallery founded and operated by a Mongol outside of Mongolia. In
2015 OtGO was awarded the “GRAND PRIX“ of the International Biennial of
Painting in Chisinau, Moldova. Since 2018, he has been working on a
voluntary basis as "Chief Curator and External Affairs of The National
Art Gallery of Mongolia" parallel to his artistic work. In 2019, he
participated in the "Curating" project of the Berlin Universität der
Künste and received the university certificate.
OtGO exhibited
his artworks in Japan, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, India, the
Czech Republic, Switzerland, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, United
Arab Emirates, Singapore, Georgia, Germany and Mongolia.
His works are in
various museums, institutions and private collections, among others:
Mongolian National Art Gallery (Mongolia), Museum Ulaanbaatar
(Mongolia), National Art Museum in Moldova, Mongolia Museum of Art in
Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), HSBC (Honkong & Shanghai Banking
Corporation), Seeheim Castle in Constance (Germany), Old Castle in
Baruth (Germany), Mongolian Embassy in Germany, etc. A very big artwork
(720 x 420 cm) is showcased in the lobby of the Best Western Premier
Tuushin Hotel in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The artist now lives between
Berlin and Ulaanbaatar.
Gallery address:
Malūnų str. 6A-12, Vilnius LT-01200.
Working hours:
II-V 13:00-19:00, VI 12:00-18:00
More information:
Lina Mrazauskaitė
Director of GODÒ
gallery
E.: info@godo.lt
M.: +370 686
61975
www.godo.lt/parodos/otgo/
