Dream of Misheel by Bolortuvshin Jargalsaikhan Painting

In this new exhibition, two Mongolian women artists come together to have their debut in Hong Kong visual arts scene. Burdaa Dolgor (b.1963) and Bolortuvshin Jargalsaikhan (b.1982) are two of the leading women artists of Mongolia, who are members of the Union of Mongolian Artists (UMA, Est.1942), the biggest collective of freelance artists in the country. With over 40 years of creative experience between them, they are at a very productive stage of their careers and now looking to expand their horizons beyond Mongolia. The juxtaposition of these two women, who were born, raised and trained in art practice in two vastly different periods of time in Mongolia, spanning over 20 years of gap in between them is the core attraction of the exhibition. They are not contemporaries, but they connect, communicate and co-work as “fellow artists” in one of the biggest art studios run by UMA. Their artworks are woven to each other through many visible and invisible threads. The emotional and creative connections between these artists lie not only in their views of the world but in their choices of topics. Defying the stereotypical themes expected from the artists originate from Mongolia, their wide variety of artworks range from still life, urban life and landscape to little doll like creatures situated in an otherworldly parallel universe. If Burdaa’s approach is more classic and concentrates on the use of lights, shadows and lines, Bolortuvshin draws little girls or young female characters in an universe unknown to us. Both artists tend to use colour palettes of very vibrant and dark colours. Through bold colours, unique figures and unusual settings, they visualise non-Mongolian themes. In the last decade, the integration of traditional Mongolian elements in artworks became a dominating tendency among artists in Mongolia. This is partly to add “ethno” feel into their works. However, this approach excludes artists like Burdaa and Bolortuvshin, who don’t conform to the mainstream. Bolortuvshin’s fascination with Japanese anime and manga is apparent in her works. A fan of works by Japanese legends Hayao Miyazaki (b.1941) and Takashi Murakami (b.1962), she visualises a series of young female roles based on established anime and manga characters, and specifically creates parallel universes for them. In “The City of the Princess” (80 cm x 90 cm, oil and acrylic on canvas), she depicts a young princess enjoying a day out in her own queendom A little girl is sitting down and creating hearts out of fruits in “Making Heart” (75 cm x 130 cm, oil and acrylic on canvas). Bolortuvshin mentioned that her motherly instinct overtakes her in her latest works, and she desires to create “perfect” world for these little girls. Her initial art training was in Set Design and Theatre Production, and this foundation worked as the key influencing factor in her recent works. Previously, Bolortuvshin was known to stage provocative performances, and accompanying installation works at various art exhibitions, including Shanghai Biennale (2012). Her artworks displayed at this exhibition signals a daring departure from her past practice. Burdaa’s single-minded exploration of colours, compositions, lights and shadows feels conservative at first. Her brush strokes are intuitive, strong, definitive and she knows exactly what she wants to convey with them. The main characterisation of her paintings is about sunsets, evenings, nights and sunrises and how little we “feel” those beautiful passing moments. In other words, as if she creates these scenes out of an unknown film noir called “Untitled”. The absence of humans in her works deepens the mystery even further. Trees in the dark forest, a chair on the steps, cactus flower in a vase, a half-opened window, a dark red curtain and the night of Hong Kong. These situations, these set-ups, these dark colours and these ordinary objects express a truly enigmatic intuition, which is sensed, felt and exploited creatively by Burdaa. Together, Burdaa and Bolortuvshin represents the new wave of non-conformist and non-traditional art coming from contemporary Mongolia, a post-soviet democratic country in Central Asia, where no artist needs to get permission from the government to stage an exhibition.

Painting:Acrylic on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:23.5 W x 23.5 H x 3 D in

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