Latest / philly has heART / Aissulu Kadyrzhanova, Visual Artist

Transcript

Aissulu Kadyrzhanova, Visual Artist · philly has heART

0:14
Lucinda is tied up this and next week and I'm
0:19
recording this in advance. Let's cut her a break
0:22
and cut straight to the conversation. Greetings.
0:39
This is Robert Marsh and you're listening to
0:40
Philly Has Heart Podcast. In this podcast, we
0:43
sit down with the artists, gallerists, educators,
0:46
curators, and other creatives who comprise the
0:49
Philadelphia art world to discuss upcoming performances,
0:52
exhibits, and other events and initiatives that
0:55
are not to be missed. The art scene in Philadelphia
0:58
is so rich that it can seem daunting. Consider
1:01
this your weekend cultural recommendation. With
1:04
me always is my producer, Lucinda Degerland.
1:08
And I am so excited to be the one to introduce
1:11
our guests today. Isulu Kadirjanova. Did I get
1:15
that right? Yes. About a year ago, Petit Garçon
1:18
and I bopped into Pi Gallery on a Saturday where
1:22
you had a show. I knew immediately upon reading
1:25
your name that you were from Central Asia. And
1:27
Margaret, the owner of Pi, confirmed that you
1:30
were in fact from Kazakhstan, where my family
1:33
spent two years in Astana. Which, Robert, that's
1:37
kind of like the Kazakhstan version of Albany,
1:40
New York, in that it's the capital of the country.
1:42
And on the other hand, you, Isulu, are from Almaty,
1:47
which is more of the Kazakhstan version of New
1:50
York, New York, in that it is the chicer, non
1:53
-capital city named for, wait for it, apples!
1:58
Like, Big Apple? Anyways... Thank you so much
2:05
for joining us today. Like many of our past guests,
2:08
you capped off your education with an MFA at
2:12
Temple's Tyler. However, unlike every one of
2:16
our guests, you have a very interesting educational
2:19
background. Can you walk us through where you
2:23
studied? Sure. First of all, thanks so much for
2:26
having me. I'm excited. I really appreciate the
2:31
interest. I'm going to move this closer to you.
2:33
I do speak a little low. So I grew up in Kazakhstan,
2:37
in Almaty. And Almaty, it is a name after apples,
2:43
because apples basically, as it was found out,
2:47
was originally from Almaty. I mean, that's where
2:50
in Central Asia they were originated. So I grew
2:54
up there during still the Soviet Union. The Soviet
3:00
Union educational system was, it was a, if you
3:04
want to pursue a certain specialization, you
3:08
start very early. For example, for me, I was
3:11
always wanting to be an artist. I don't know,
3:13
my parents say, when I was a three -year -old,
3:15
I would say, like, I'm going to be an artist.
3:17
Yes. And I was a Jew, I was. through horses and
3:21
trees, and I still do the same. Basically, in
3:24
a little bit more serious way. So I always drew,
3:27
and my mom, when I was nine years old, took me
3:29
to this, if I translate to U .S. system, it would
3:33
be like after... Like aftercare? After, no, it's
3:37
like a school, like after school program. Oh,
3:40
okay, okay. So it's basically just, you go to
3:43
your regular school, and then you go to art school,
3:46
where from, for example... 3 to 8 p .m., you
3:50
just do art. Wow. And it's not kids' art. It's
3:54
like you steal lives, you study art history,
3:57
and that education prepares you to go to the
4:01
next step, which is the art college, which you
4:04
go after the ninth grade. So it would be like
4:08
a specialized high school for art, if I would
4:12
translate. Wow. And you go to that. So I went
4:16
to art college and studied there for four years.
4:20
And you don't study any math or physics. You
4:22
just study painting, sculpture, drawing, composition,
4:26
and also pedagogy. Because when you graduate,
4:29
you're basically qualified to become an art teacher.
4:31
But if you want to go further away, you go to
4:34
art academy. So it's a very gradual step -by
4:37
-step, which I entered that step. Besides making
4:41
paintings, I don't know anything else. Well,
4:44
we saw that sculpture that you made. It was on
4:49
wood. Was it metal pins? It was blue? Yeah. Yeah,
4:55
it's a recent sculpture. It's actually made from
4:58
acupuncture device, the needles, and you step
5:03
on it. I made it as a... commentary on the disappearance
5:08
of RLC. I don't know if you guys know, it was
5:11
one of the biggest inland lakes in the whole
5:15
world. Beautiful lake, and in the 1960s, the
5:19
Soviets decided to use the rivers that fed the
5:23
lake. It was almost like a sea to plant cotton,
5:28
to sell the cotton to the West. Basically, it
5:31
was so interesting because... The plantations
5:34
in the U .S. were... Discontinued. Discontinued.
5:38
The world needs cotton, and then the Soviets,
5:41
oh, great idea, let's plant a lot of cotton.
5:44
Basically in the desert, but the lakes there,
5:47
like rivers, so they just took all the water
5:51
that fed the lake, the sea, we called it the
5:54
sea, it was huge. Basically in 20 years, the
5:58
sea disappeared. It was so tragic. one of the
6:02
biggest ecological catastrophes. I think in the
6:05
modern times, within one generation, we saw such
6:11
a loss, loss we see. So my work was a commenter
6:15
on that, which is like the blue wave, which basically
6:20
symbolizes the sea, but it's needles. It talks
6:24
about the pain. Oh, sorry. It took me to throw
6:28
us off our path for a conversation. Did Temple
6:33
University's Tyler bring you to the States, or
6:36
was it something else? It did, yeah. Actually,
6:40
I moved to the States after I graduated from
6:43
Moscow Academy of Fine Arts. So once I finished
6:48
my studies in Kazakhstan, I also went, I can
6:51
go back to my story. So I went for two years.
6:55
Kazakh Academy of Fine Arts. Studied there two
6:58
years. Didn't really enjoy that. And because
7:02
it was still kind of influenced by the Soviet
7:05
Union system. And if you want to get the best
7:07
education, you go to Moscow. So I knew that the
7:10
best schools in Moscow was St. Petersburg. So
7:14
I applied to Moscow. I was accepted. And I studied
7:18
there for seven years. I finished my BFA and
7:21
MFA there. But it was still 2000s and basically
7:26
pre -internet. I mean, at that time, especially
7:29
in Russia, the internet was basically non -existent.
7:33
I didn't really know English. But I want to learn
7:36
about what's going on in the world. Contemporary
7:40
painting. It was very hard to understand being
7:43
in Russia. So I decided that I should apply to
7:50
the West Art School. But I didn't know English,
7:54
so I had to first come here, study English for
7:56
one year, and apply to MFA programs. I applied
8:00
to Tyler. It was one of the best schools at that
8:03
time for painting. I didn't know anything about
8:05
U .S. schools, but I looked at the ranking. It
8:07
was like number six, I believe, at the time.
8:10
It was 2006. And they offered me a very generous
8:14
scholarship, so I... Yes. We usually ask this
8:17
question first, but wanted to get the deets on
8:21
your schooling first. Can you take us through
8:24
your journey that brought you to visual arts?
8:27
You know, fill in any details. Was there anything
8:30
that directed you to where you are today? Well,
8:33
I think I kind of hinted at that. Yes, yes. But
8:37
more specifically, even like why painting over
8:41
some of the other art options? Great question.
8:44
I think it's just somehow I always like to observe.
8:49
As a kid, I was very quiet. And I think I preferred
8:54
to go away and contemplate. I remember I would
8:59
just go, like, climb a tree and look at trees.
9:02
And then I'd go back home, and I wanted someone
9:08
to do something with that feeling. And I think
9:12
I would just... Drew a lot. And it made me connected
9:15
to D somehow. I always want the direct visual
9:21
input going through your nervous system and going
9:25
through your hand. It's so direct, so satisfying.
9:29
And then the painting comes next, of course.
9:32
I love it. Yes. And you work with oil paint primarily,
9:37
or do you do acrylic paint? Before coming to
9:41
the U .S., I only worked with oils. But when
9:43
I came to the U .S. and discovered acrylics,
9:47
which it's kind of a love -hate relationship.
9:50
Yes. I mean, it's basically plastic. But it also
9:53
dries so quick. And it allows me to work on a
9:57
very large scale very quickly. I don't have to
9:59
wait. So I can work very quickly, which I love.
10:03
I mean, I love... painting all at once, big sizes,
10:07
with oil. It's very hard to do, so acrylic comes
10:10
very handy. But I've recently also been working
10:14
with, started to experiment with natural materials,
10:18
such as, I love going to nature. When I go there,
10:24
I always look at the plants and forks, and I
10:28
collect them. I ask permission. And then I bring
10:31
it back, and I... do some dyes, and I try to
10:36
think of nature as my collaborator. When the
10:38
image, it's not just a representation of nature,
10:41
but nature itself. So it's been my recent passion,
10:45
and I'm still exploring interior art, but, you
10:48
know, I love to think, compared to acrylics,
10:51
which is plastic and sometimes feels so toxic
10:54
for the environment. I feel this is the way to
10:57
go. working with natural materials. Ooh, I love
11:00
that. Is there anything about growing up in Kazakhstan
11:03
that continues to inspire your work? Absolutely,
11:08
yeah. Alessandra, you know, you've been in Kazakhstan.
11:11
You know how Kazakhstan, it's a very vast open
11:15
space for the biggest part. It's basically semi
11:19
-desert. It's very dry. It's a dry heat. It gets
11:24
as hot as it gets in Philadelphia, but I think
11:27
it's easier to manage because the heat is a dry
11:29
heat. So you can go out for a run and be fine.
11:33
It doesn't feel as stifling. Gotcha. Okay. Do
11:36
you want to tell them about the cold? Also, I
11:39
mean, you've been to Astana. I've actually never
11:41
been on Astana during the winter, but I know
11:43
how brutally cold it is. Oh, gosh. Yeah, so it
11:48
can get cold. But what I think... I wouldn't
11:51
say inspire, but fills my soul in that open space,
11:54
the sense of presence that you feel when you're
11:57
in stata. It's this horizon line that just stretches
12:01
endlessly, and the sky and the earth meets. And
12:06
I think my interest in animism, where it is believed
12:11
that everything is alive, has its own spirit,
12:13
comes from my deep roots. Because Kazakhs used
12:18
to be nomads and traveled with their cattle all
12:23
around through the steppe. And, of course, connected
12:26
to nature for guidance, like they would follow
12:29
stars to understand the navigation. So that deep
12:34
connection to moon and the sun and the stars
12:38
and to the land, we revere Earth. So I think
12:43
it's very deep in me. Bring this to my landscapes.
12:49
Yes. I love it. Well, I love it. Has there been
12:53
a particular gallery show or exhibition that
12:56
you believe stretched your work? It's actually
13:00
that work I made that we just talked about, the
13:02
wave made from the acupuncture device. And also
13:07
I made a video work, which I've never done before.
13:09
It was last year. I was invited to participate
13:13
in an online exhibition. which I also never really
13:18
participated in an exhibition that happens only
13:22
digitally. But it was a curator from the West
13:25
Coast, and she invited 40 different artists from
13:28
around the world to make works about, basically
13:33
about dark ecology. I don't know if you know
13:36
this recent... No, can you tell us more about
13:38
it? I think it's this term that recently being...
13:41
I think it was first... Nailed by Timothy Morton.
13:47
It's a British thinker and philosopher who explores
13:51
the ideas about environment and how we should
13:55
rethink our relationship to all these processes
13:58
that are happening. Because they're so big, like
14:02
global warming, climate change. They're bigger
14:05
than we can imagine. And he called them hyper
14:09
-objects. And basically it's this. that's so
14:12
big, that's so incongruenceable, that's beyond
14:16
us, and we're all connected within it. We're
14:19
all connected. It's not just the humans have
14:23
to do something about the environment. No, it's
14:25
somehow we have to understand we're all entangled
14:27
in our world. And so it's complex. I'm still
14:32
trying to learn these two, but the show was about
14:37
that. And all these artists all around the world
14:39
created work for this subject. So I made the
14:43
work about disappearance of our old sea because
14:47
I believe it exactly connects to this idea. It's
14:51
how it happened basically because the world is
14:55
all connected. Somebody needed cotton. Somebody
14:57
grew it. The sea disappeared. And it all happened
15:01
because we can't. foresee these things, right?
15:04
As humans, we can't really comprehend many things.
15:10
So I made the video work. It's basically a square
15:14
of blue water that shrinks gradually and underneath
15:19
reveals dry land, which I shot when I was flying
15:24
to Almaty this summer, this past summer. And
15:28
I usually, before... The plane never goes this
15:36
way, but now because we can't fly through Russia,
15:39
it's a different route. And we flew right across
15:44
the Aral Sea, basically. It was so dry. I mean,
15:48
the whole land itself is very dry. It's fascinating.
15:53
It was like a different planet, nothing. It's
15:55
just white soil. There's a lot of salt that's
16:00
still there. And the sky, and it was beautiful,
16:05
but devastating. Yeah. And so the video was this
16:11
blue square that gradually disappears, revealing
16:13
that land, the empty land. And the voice of a
16:17
woman would kind of say an elegy to the sea,
16:20
saying that I'm responsible for that because
16:24
I do consume this cotton. And thinking about
16:28
how I go to... and buy all these cheap T -shirts
16:33
for $5, never thinking about what it means, how
16:37
it all connects. But she has to die for my pleasure.
16:42
I mean, of course, it's hard to deeply understand
16:47
that. Maybe I was making it a little bit too
16:51
dramatic. No, no. These are the real stories.
16:55
Hey, this is the real truth to our consumerism.
17:00
Yeah. And for you to be able to then help others
17:05
visualize that is powerful because we all don't
17:11
see the larger impact of our very, what seems
17:16
to be, small decision -making each day. Exactly.
17:19
So that's incredible. Do you have a bucket list
17:23
venue where you'd like to show your art, maybe
17:27
both in the States and then maybe somewhere in
17:30
Kazakhstan as well? Oh my God, you're creating
17:32
my mind. Because in Kazakhstan, we actually have
17:39
a very exciting thing that recently happened.
17:42
We never had a contemporary art museum. And recently,
17:47
one of our biggest... Kazakh philanthropist and
17:50
businessperson who collected Kazakh Central Asian
17:55
arts for decades and had a humongous collection
17:59
of the world's European and the contemporary
18:04
Western painters alongside a huge collection
18:08
of Central Asian artists. So he opened the Museum
18:11
of Contemporary Art in the center of Almaty.
18:15
It's so beautiful. It's an incredible institution
18:18
whose mission is to, I think, build a bridge
18:23
between Central Asia and the rest of the world
18:27
because we're still kind of isolated. So that's
18:29
where I am. Did you know that Kazakhstan is the
18:33
largest landlocked country in the world? Only
18:37
because you've told me that before. Many times.
18:41
It's shocking. It is. It's huge. But there are,
18:45
I think, only like 20 million people all over
18:49
the world, Kazakh people, who live there. I'm
18:52
trying to think of the borders of it. It's Caspian
18:55
Sea, Uzbekistan. Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan. We have
18:59
a border with China and a huge border with Russia.
19:03
And Kyrgyzstan, all kind of stands. You can't
19:07
fly direct from the United States anywhere, any
19:12
city, to Kazakhstan. Where do you end up flying
19:15
through most of the time? You could do Istanbul
19:18
or Frankfurt. Frankfurt, Istanbul, London. Oh,
19:22
you could do London first. Yeah, it's very convenient
19:25
now for London because we have direct flights
19:27
from Philly to London. Yes. And London to Almaty.
19:30
Yeah. That's just some inside baseball for you
19:33
guys. Do you have any upcoming exhibitions that
19:40
you wanted to share or projects that... our audience
19:44
should keep an eye out for. I don't have any
19:46
exhibitions planned yet, but I do have very exciting
19:51
things happening with an art agency in New York.
19:56
Oh, that's exciting. Which is also a gallery
20:01
space. And we're going to collaborate this year
20:04
and see where it will take us. Oh, great. Keep
20:08
us in the loop with FLED. Yes. I will, yes, absolutely.
20:13
Where can our audience find you online? Right
20:17
now, mainly through my Instagram. I have two
20:21
Instagrams. I can share that with you. So I'm
20:25
going to build a website this year, which I used
20:29
to have, and I abandoned it for a while. Yes.
20:32
I'm back. So Instagram. Excellent. Great, and
20:36
I'll link that in the show notes. Thank you.
20:39
Thank you so much. Well, thank you so much for
20:42
the conversation. We'll be right back with rapid
20:44
-fire questions. Awesome. Back with some rapid
20:48
-fire questions. So if you could work in any
20:51
other artistic medium, be it a different visual
20:54
media or something in the performing arts, and
20:57
achieve the same success, what would it be? I'm
21:03
really interested in the video work. Oh, yeah.
21:05
Oh, nice. There's something about it that helps
21:07
me to... Understand time? Yeah. Oh, interesting.
21:11
And how image can affect us and the sound. Right.
21:15
Which in painting you can use. Yes, that's so
21:18
true. Can you describe the Philadelphia art scene
21:20
in one word? Community. Lovely, lovely. If you
21:25
could collaborate with any artist, dead or alive,
21:29
who would it be? Leonardo da Vinci. I would understand
21:33
all about him. Yes. If you could pick any artist
21:37
dead or alive to produce a portrait of you, who
21:40
would it be? Again, Leonardo. And then your soundtrack
21:44
for when you work? Silence. Nice. A lot of artists
21:50
do that. Yeah, they don't want to be... Distracted.
21:54
Distracted or have any sort of impression upon
21:57
them. Yeah, and I feel like my studio is now
22:00
in vain, very close to nature. I just open my
22:04
windows and I hear birds, I hear wind, and it's
22:07
the best soundtrack. Well, thank you so much
22:11
for your time today in the conversation. Thank
22:14
you so much. Thank you so much for being here,
22:16
Asulu. Everyone, check out her Instagram. I'm
22:19
linking it in the show notes. It was really special.
22:37
Yeah. Yeah. I knew the moment that I saw her
22:41
name next to one of her pieces at Pi Gallery
22:45
that... I was nearly certain that she was from
22:50
Kazakhstan. That's incredible. Yeah. That's so
22:52
great. It was incredible to hear how Kazakhstan
22:56
drove her art with her relationship with nature.
23:01
Yeah. That was... And living on the steppe. Right.
23:05
And, like, everything is flat. Yeah. That's why
23:09
it's so damn windy there. And because it's so
23:15
windy there is the reason it's so cold in the
23:17
winter. Let's pivot to this weekend's picks.
23:21
Four in the performing arts and four in the visual
23:24
arts. Let's go. Go. Chicago is wrapping up the
23:29
Forest Theater on May 17th. Opera Philadelphia
23:32
presents The Black Clown, opening tomorrow, May
23:35
14th, and running through this Sunday, May 17th,
23:38
at the Miller Theater. Philadelphia Orchestra
23:41
presents Orchestra After Five, Postcards from
23:44
Spain, on May 14th at the Kimmel Center. And
23:47
just like that, you have happy hour plans for
23:50
tomorrow. Yannick leads Bruckner and Sori, running
23:54
this weekend, May 15th and May 16th. This Phil
23:57
Ork production will also be at the Kimmel Center.
24:00
Val Rossman's show is ongoing at Muse. Make sure
24:04
you take a listen to her episode from April 30th.
24:07
Mohamed Omer Khalil, Common Ground, is ongoing
24:10
at 12 Gates Arts, closing Friday. And stay tuned
24:15
for our Friday episode as our guest, Umika, is
24:18
from 12 Gates Arts. American Interior by Dan
24:22
Gunn and Where Spring Begins to Speak, works
24:26
from the in -house collection, is ongoing at
24:29
Pentimenti Gallery. Press play at James Oliver
24:32
Gallery. A group exhibition featuring works from
24:36
Alexis Nutini, Amira Pulwan, Jackson Kramer,
24:40
and Katie Garth is ongoing. Land this plane,
24:43
Robert. And with that, Philly has heart. And
24:46
art. Thanks for tuning in to Philly Has Heart,
25:03
your weekly cultural update. Until next time,
25:06
keep creating, keep connecting, and remember,
25:09
Philly has heart.