Rustam Khalfin
Rustam Khalfin | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 14, 1949 |
| Died | December 31, 2008 (aged 59) |
| Nationality | USSR (until 1991), Kazakhstan (since 1991) |
| Alma mater | Moscow Architectural Institute |
| Style | Painting, Video Art, Photo Art, Installation Art, Performance Art |
| Movement | Contemporary Art |
| Website | https://khalfin.foundation |
Rustam Khalfin (October 14, 1949 – December 31, 2008) was a Kazakh contemporary artist, painter and architect.
Rustam Khalfin is considered one of the most influential artists of Central Asia of the 20th century,[1] he was one of the pioneers in performance, installation and video art and had a major influence on the art community of the region. He developed the concept of nomad aesthetics with contemporary vision.
Background[edit]
Born in 1949 in Tashkent in the family of a battle-front veteran Nurmukhamed Abdrakhmanovich Khalfin (years of life: 1909 - 1974). Rustam's brother Marat Nurmukhamedovich Khalfin was a Soviet and Russian scientist (years of life: 1940 - 2020).
In 1950, Rustam and his family moved to Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR, where he spent his life.
In 1972 he graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute.
He was a student of Vladimir Sterligov, a prominent representative of the Russian avant-garde, and throughout the 1970s and 1990s he was a member of his circle of successors[2] who developed the “chalice-dome consciousness” theory.
In 1999 he opened his own LOOK gallery.[3]
In 2005, Khalfin's works were exhibited in the Central Asia Pavilion at the prestigious Venice Biennale, it was the moment when Kazakhstani contemporary art was presented to the world for the first time.[4]
Rustam's wife and muse was the artist Lidia Blinova, together they regularly held "apartment" shows.
Creative Legacy[edit]
Today, there are 200+ works known that are part of the heritage of Rustam Khalfin: paintings, installations, drawings, photographs, texts and much more.
Among the major and well-known projects of the artist: “Eurasian Utopia”, (including “Clay Project”, “Lazy Project”), “Northern Barbarians”. Khalfin started working on the monumental installation “Clay Project. Level Zero” in 1999. The installation consisted of an 18-meter human figure which extended over two stories. For Khalfin, this project was a metaphor for "the disconnectedness of people in today's world, and in particular the [Almaty] artistic community”. According to Khalfin's idea, the installation was supposed to “call for consolidation, understanding the situation in contemporary art and developing a strategy that could introduce Kazakhstan to the international cultural community”.[5] Rustam Khalfin created the concept of “pulotas” – a simultaneous combination of emptiness and fullness. This word refers to a simple plastic object formed between fingers clenched into a fist - it does not matter if it is air or a piece of clay. His works are kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery (Russia), the Zimmerli Art Museum in New Jersey (USA), the M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgium), the A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts in Almaty, the National Museum of Kazakhstan in Astana, as well as in other museums and private collections.
Alexander Brener, artist and writer, wrote about Khalfin in his book “The Lives of The Murdered Artists”: “Rustam entered the painting art not as a handicraft and self-taught, but as a student of a powerful modernist tradition - Cezanne and Seurat, Braque and Picasso, Malevich and Sterligov, Robert Delaunay and Serge Poliakoff, Nicolas de Staël and Giorgio Morandi. Rustam called this line “plastic form making” and considered it the most important phenomenon in the new fine arts. “Plasticity” was his favorite concept. By plasticity, he understood the combination of the primary, simplest tactile experience with intelligent vision, with an educated eye”[6]
Exhibitions[edit]
His works have been featured in prestigious exhibitions such as the Central Asia Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005), Off the Silk Road: No Mad's Land, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2002) and re-orientation: Kunst zu Mittelasien, ACC Gallery, Weimar (2002).
Major exhibitions[7]:
1981 – “Exhibition of Four”, in the apartment of Lydia Blinova and Rustam Khalfin, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
1982 – “1+1+1+1”, The Union of Architects, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
1985 – “Rustam Khalfin. Paintings”, art studio of T.N. Glebova, Leningrad, USSR.
1986 – “Exhibition of Unofficial Art”, Directorship for Art Exhibitions, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
1988 – “Sterligov, his pupils and followers”, Directorship for the Museum Association of Leningrad Oblast, Leningrad, USSR.
1989 – “Art Center”, Directorship for Art Exhibitions, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Crossing”, Directorship of Art Exhibitions, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
1990 – “Sterligov’s Group”, Museum of City’s History”, Leningrad, USSR.
1991 – “Exhibition of Soviet Paintings”, Adelaida, Australia. “7+1”, exhibition hall of Arkhangelsk Artists’ Union, Arkhangelsk, USSR. “Sterligov’s Group”, Yusupov Palace, Leningrad, USSR. “Modern artists for Malevich”, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, USSR.
1992 – “Artists’ quarter”, Directorship for Art Exhibitions, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Art-Contact”, “Manezh” Central Exhibition Hall, St.Petersburg, Russia. “Towards Malevich’s side”, Karenin Gallery, Vienna, Austria
1994 – “Hand and Eye”, personal exhibition, “Studio 20” Gallery, Moscow, Russia. “Petersburg Bienniale”, “Manezh” Central Exhibition Hall, St.Petersburg, Russia.
1995 – “A Parade of Galleries”, presentation of the “Iskander” Gallery, Kasteev State Museum of Art, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Erotica and Astrology”, “Ulasu-Art” Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
1996 – “Art in private collections”, Central State Museum of History, Almaty, Kazakhstan. Exhibition-presentation of 10 catalogs of Kazakhstani artists, “Tengri’Umai” Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Postman’s Song”, KazakhBusiness Club, Almaty, Kazakhstan. In honor of L.B., Rukh Gallery, Gallery Parade-96, A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts, Almaty.
1997 – “Paintings by Rustam Khalfin and sculpture by Georgi Tryakin-Buharov”, “Asia Art” Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Through form”, Art Museum, Samara, Russia. “Skin of an artist”, “A Parade of Galleries”, Kasteev State Museum of Arts, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Art-Disckurs-97”, Observatory in the foothills of Zailiiski Alatau Mountains, Kazakhstan. “Human Rights: Terra Incognita”. KazakhBusiness Club, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Human Rights: A Second Breath”, KazakhBusiness Club, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
1998 – “Towards understanding boundaries”, “A Parade of Galleries”, “Asia Art” Gallery, Kasteev State Museum of Modern Art, Almaty, Kazakhstan. First Annual Exhibition of the Soros center for Contemporary Art “Self-identification: Futurological prognosis”, “Moscow” Shopping Center, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Flying White” presentation, Art Museum, Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
1999 – “Extreme defile”, “LOOK” Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “The Zero Level. Clay Project. ”, “LOOK” Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Rustam Khalfin’s Birthday”, presentation by the “LOOK” Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Eurasian Zone”, “Manezh” Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow, Russia
2000 – “Art Moscow 2000”, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia.
2001 – “Media City” festival, Windsor, Canada. “New acquisitions from Central Asia”, Zimmerly Museum, New Jersey, USA. “First Bienniale in Valencia”, Valencia, Spain.
2002 – “No mad’s land”, House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany. Videoart Festival of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art “Inventory”, German Theater, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Re-orientation”, ACC Gallery, Weimar, Germany. International Festival of Arts “Tengri-Umai”, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
2003 – Nordic Nomads, CAC Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius.
2005 – «Rustam Khalfin. Personal exhibition». Tengri-Umai Gallery, Almaty.
2007 – Rustam Khalfin. Retrospective. Love Races, White Space Gallery in St Peter’s, London Intim – In Time, Soros Center for Contemporary Art, Almaty.
2016 – Eurasian Utopia, NCCA (National Centre for Contemporary Arts), Moscow.
2020 – Rustam Khalfin. Self-Portrait Without A Mirror. A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Curatorial projects:
1996 – “The Autumn gestures of anger. dedicated to the memory of L. Blinova”, KazakhBusiness Club, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
1997 – “Skin of an artist”, “A Parade of Galleries”, Kasteev State Museum of Arts, Almaty, Kazakhstan. “Lazy Project”, Observatory in the foothills of Zailiiski Alatau Mountains, Kazakhstan.
1998 – “Big Glass. Towards realization of the boundaries”, “A Parade of Galleries”, Kasteev State Museum of Arts, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
1999-2000 – “The Zero level. Clay Project”, “LOOK” Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
2000 – Member of the curator group for the Second Annual Exhibition of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art “Communications: Experience of Interaction”, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Awards: 1974 – Diploma for participation in designing of Buildings on the republic’s Square in Almaty from All-USSR Meeting of Young Architects, Moscow, Russia.
1999 – Third Prize (together with G. Tryakin-Buharov and L. Turganbaeva) from the First Annual Exhibition of SCCA “Self-identification: Futurological prognosis”, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Heritage Protection[edit]
In 2021, Ruslan Khalfin, the artist’s nephew and heir, founded the Rustam Khalfin Public Kazakhstani Foundation.[8] The Foundation’s goal is to preserve and study Rustam Khalfin’s oeuvre. It is managed by the board of trustees made up of high-profile and well-known specialists in Kazakhstan.[9]
All rights to the heritage of the artist Rustam Khalfin belong to the heir Ruslan Khalfin.[10]
Literature[edit]
1. Zitta Sultanbaeva/Asya Nuriyeva. Art Atmosphere of Alma-Ata – Almaty, 2016. ISBN 978-601-7283-29-2 2. Rustam Khalfin Seeing Through the Artist’s Hand - White Space Gallery London 2007. ISBN 978-0-9557394-0-8 3. Alexander Brener. The Lives of The Murdered Artists – Moscow, 2017. ISBN 978-5-87987-110-4
References[edit]
- ^ Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture (2021-04-29). "Series of lectures "Who is Rustam Khalfin?"". YouTube (in Russian).
- ^ "Exhibition: "Rustam Khalfin. Self-Portrait Without a Mirror"". A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts. 2020-07-17.
- ^ Nazipa Ezhenova (2010). "The toughest acorn of the French forests" (in Russian).
- ^ "Catalogue of the 1st Central Asia Pavilion, 51 la Biennale di Venezia, curated by Viktor Misiano, "Kurama Art" gallery, Kyrgyzstan, 2005". Astral Nomads. 2005.
- ^ "Rustam Khalfin" (in Russian).
- ^ Brener, Alexander (2017). The Lives of The Murdered Artists. Gilyea. ISBN 978-5-87987-110-4.
- ^ "Rustam Khalfin. Summary of the artist's exhibitions" (PDF). Aspan Gallery (in Russian).
- ^ "Foundation Dedicated to the Artist Rustam Khalfin Opened in Kazakhstan". Kapital.kz (in Russian). 2021-11-03.
- ^ Dmitriy Mazorenko (2021). "Trustees of the Rustam Khalfin Foundation: "Without Systematic Work, the Entire Heritage of The Artist Will Gradually Fade Away"" (in Russian).
- ^ "Heritage Protection". Rustam Khalfin Foundation (in Russian).