Sketches of Almaty II

Sketches of Almaty

My return to Almaty

Exactly one year later after my fifteen-month-stay in Kazakhstan (see my diaries), I am about to embark upon another trip there. This time, Vladimir Filatov of the Tengri-Umai gallery proposed a collaborative project involving graffiti. His vision has been to do something outside gallery, in public space.

The proposed mural space.

My origins are in the art of spray paint. I haven’t painted much with this media in the last 10 years but I worked almost every day for over 15 years prior to that point with the art of the spray can. The Tengri Umai project is a collaborative effort with an old friend and artist colleague James Reitano. I have worked with Mr. Reitano doing various murals, gallery projects, and publishing projects since we were teenagers. I anticipate this to be a very special project just for the experience of working with him.

When I contacted James on the grounds of this project, James at once suggested to invite along his colleague, video-maker Davon Ramos. As soon I had a conversation with Mr. Ramos on the telephone, I quickly felt we would get along well. We share a common angle looking at the world and cultures as something to respect and learn from as humble observers and interactive artists. This collaborative project will help to gain a more nuanced understanding of America, especially places like Oakland or Los Angeles, for people in Kazakhstan and, vice versa, aid Americans to learn about Kazakhstan.

The weather here in Oakland is around 75F degrees (23C) after a few days of fog and a little rain this week. I am busy packing and getting ready for the trip. I leave on the 23rd and will meet Davon in Amsterdam. We will meet James already in Kazakhstan.

five must do things in KAZAKHSTAN

1. Eat as much food as possible. Horse sausage included.

2. Record shopping. Kazakh breaks!??! Yes, please!

3. mixtapemixtape!!! stickering. Promotional opportunities never cease.

4. Taste as much local beer and vodka as time allows. And there’s always time for alcohol.

5. Dispel the myths of the fat, imperial American. Just as Borat has obviously skewed the American idea of the Kazakh people, let us also realize that the general idea of an American is perverted by the oil hungry, American business men that visit their country. It’s our job to let them know that those people do not represent all of us. That there are other Americans that do not necessarily agree with the overall practices of our government and that we have much to learn. We are the new Ambassadors. And we embrace that.

inshallah

TEAM KAZAKHSTAN (L-R Anna Slotky, James Reitano, Daniel Gallegos)

TEAM KAZAKHSTAN met for the first time last weekend in Oakland, CA. I had been in email contact with Daniel for sometime but this was the first time we had met in person and the first time Daniel and James had seen each other in over 10 years. It was a festive occasion.

As always, it was nice to put a name to a face and in between beers and PLOV (a traditional Kazakh dish of lamb and rice pilaf) lovingly prepared by Daniel’s wife Zhanara, we talked about what we were hoping to achieve on this trip both personally and professionally.

Sketches for the mural

James and Daniel worked on sketches for the GRAFFITTI MURAL that they have been commissioned to paint by the TENGRI-UMAI GALLERY in Almaty, Kazakhstan and it was pretty awesome to see so many months of planning and concepting come to fruition. I have no doubt that they are going to blow the minds of the Kazakh art world.

Daniel and James discuss the mural.

It’s really amazing the amount of trust and collaboration we all have in each other despite the relative lack of personal experience we have with each other but it’s almost like we are already family. Even if the trip to Kazakhstan wasn’t happening, it was a joy to meet Daniel and Zhanara and I can already tell I have much to learn from them. And will.

We leave tomorrow. Me and Daniel are taking seperate planes to Amersterdam (he from San Francisco and I from Los Angeles) and from there we will travel together to Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan. There we will reconvene with James and his girlfriend Anna who left yesterday. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to travel to a place I never thought I’d get to go and am expecially honored to have the chance to show some of my work in a Kazakh gallery and have a chance to meet and engage with other artists from this beautiful country so steeped in tradition.

Onward to Almaty! Assuming, of course, that Daniel and I make it out of Amsterdam.

the coolest description

via: LONELY PLANET

If you’re not a fan of endless semi-arid steppe and decaying industrial cities, Kazakhstan (Kazakstan) may seem bleak, but those who enjoy remoteness, wide open spaces, lunar landscapes, long hypnotic train rides and horse sausage will definitely be in their element.

Uh, YES PLEASE!

new photography work

These are some of the photos I’ll be showing in the KAZ. Prints will be ranging in size fro 20×16 to 40×30. Completely obnoxious, American size.

the rise of YNTY MAQ

It took several days of deliberation before we settled on the name for this blog. Some of the front runners were:

Bridge of friendship…Dostyk kuperi
My name is…Menym atym
hand over heart

A couple of us liked “hand over heart” (too patriotic?) and “bridge of friendship” (sounds kind of weird?) but we unanimously decided that we wanted to use a Kazakh word with respect to the project and the country that is giving us this exciting opportunity to create art within it’s borders.

We finally settled on YNTY MAQ which means “collaboration, solidarity and unity” when translated from Kazakh to English. We thought it best describes what we are hoping to achieve on this trip and I just kind of like how the words sound. YNTY MAQ son!