A Perpetual Loop: The Work of Kazakh Artist Erbossyn Meldibekov
By Kitty Van Leeuwen
ERBOSSYN MELDIBEKOV, Transformer,
Kazakh artist Erbossyn Meldibekov is in constant conflict with his identity. His exhibition “Mountains of Revolution,” now on view at Rossi & Rossi gallery in Hong Kong, demonstrates some of the struggles faced by an artist emanating from a region that remains relatively unknown. In his performance at the 2005 Venice Biennale, Meldibekov introduced himself and was accepted as being from the fictive nation of Pastan. When questioned on the gullibility of his viewers, the artist responded challengingly, “Few people care where Tajikistan or Turkmenistan is. To them, Central Asia might as well be a meteorite that exploded out of Venus.”
