Dashi sculpture. Dashi Namdakov - Exhibition "Nomad

Taken from http://sergey-v-fomin.livejournal.com/82022.html?view=193894#t193894

“... Nomads were distinguished by two qualities - military courage and unconditional loyalty. And on these principles, that is, on the principle of their heroism and the principle of personal devotion, they created great monarchies.
L.N. GUMILEV.

This post is dedicated to the Russian sculptor, artist and jeweler Dashi Namdakov and his work. Visitors to our LiveJournal are already familiar with some of them.
He was born in 1967 in the Trans-Baikal Buryat village of Ukurik. He was the sixth child in a large family of Balzhan Namdakov, who belonged to an ancient respected family of blacksmiths-darkhans. According to customs, only they were allowed to work with fire - a sacred symbol of chosenness. As in neighboring Mongolia, they are very attentive to the family pedigree. In the male line, the Namdakov family gave 23 generations over 600 years.

Dashi Namdakov studied first in Ulan-Ude, and then at the Krasnoyarsk State Art Institute, after which he opened a small jewelry workshop in Buryatia. In 2000, his first personal exhibition was held in Irkutsk, after which he gained well-deserved fame.

Ritual. 2001

Exhibitions of his works were held in the main museums of the country: the Tretyakov Gallery (2008), the Hermitage (2010), the State Historical Museum in Moscow (2014).

Rich bride. 1998

Steppe Nefertiti. 2001

His contribution to the creation of the feature film "Mongol" was awarded the "Nika-2008" and "White Elephant" awards "for the best work of the artist." D.B. Namdakov is a laureate of the 2009 Government Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of culture.

Frame from the film "Mongol".

The main themes of Dashi Namdakov's works are nomads, warriors, sacred figures, legendary personalities, family patrons of the Buryats, totem animals and mythological creatures.

Khan.

Noble.

Nomad.

Nomad-2.

Flying, flying steppe mare
And crushes the feather grass ...
Alexander Blok.

The exhibition of works by Dashi Namdakov in the Hermitage in 2010 received a very precise title: “Nostalgia for the origins. Universe of nomads.

Enlightened.

Warrior.

Most of the works of Dashi Namdakov are made in the technique of artistic casting, forging and mixed media. The material is bronze, silver, gold, copper, precious stones, as well as bone (mammoth tusk), horsehair and wood.

Old warrior. 2001

Old warrior. Fragment.

Dashi Namdakov's works are kept in the collections of the State Hermitage Museum, the Museum of Oriental Art, the Museum of Modern Art in Moscow, as well as in Chinese and American government collections. They are also in many private collections, including those of President V.V. Putin.

Warrior of Genghis Khan.

Archer. 2000

Dasha Namdakov also has graphic works.

Disappeared, gone missing
Herds of steppe mares,
Wild passions unleashed
Under the yoke of the flawed moon.
Alexander Blok.

Queen. 2010

Dashi Namdakov: NOSTALGIA FOR THE ORIGINS

“With the hooves of horses, the history of Eurasia is inscribed in the annals of mankind. […] The legendary Mongol cavalry, which terrified the Europeans, remained forever in the historical memory of generations.”
A.N. ZELINSKY.

In one of the previous posts of our LiveJournal, we already wrote about the installation on April 14, 2012 in London of a bronze equestrian statue of Genghis Khan, created by Dashi Namdakov for the 850th anniversary of the birth of the Great Conqueror.
The sculptor worked on it for more than two years. The British gave him a huge workshop in London in the very center of the city. The master found an interesting solution: the Great Khan, dressed in Mongol armor, seemed to stop at the very edge of an invisible abyss - at the border of Heaven.

The bronze sculpture was cast in the Mariani workshop in northern Italy, delivered to the UK in parts. Its height from the horse's hooves to the rider's helmet is about five meters, weight - 2714 kilograms.
A statue was installed at the London Borough Council of Westminster on an island-lawn next to Marble Arch in the north-eastern part of Hyde Park. The event took place as part of the City of Sculptures festival on the eve of the Olympics.

However, the appearance of the statue in the center of the English capital was not to the taste of some islanders.
“What were the Conservatives in Westminster thinking about when they decided to place the statue next to Marble Arch? Who is next in line? Stalin? Pol Pot? Saddam Hussein?” protested Labor MP Paul Dimboldenberg.

There is nothing strange, of course, in such a reaction. It suffices to recall some lines from the poem by Alexei Shiropaev that we have already cited:

Buryats, Mongols, Cossacks -
To the west, to the west, to the west
Where the capital shines
The legend, like a cloud, strives.

For offices, faxes and plastic -
The mystery of checkers and swastikas.
Look: on the bank walls
Horse foam pulsates.

Into your ribbed tunnels
Steppe snowstorms flew in,
And destroys computers subsoil
Empire of bronze and wind.

Tearing down curtains and curtains
Will fly into your dreams
Cossacks, Buryats, Mongols,
Drawn by the surf of the English Channel.

Then the horsemen of Genghis Khan did not reach the British Isles.
However, today a bronze statue of their Terrible leader stands in the very center of London.

Meanwhile, the triumph of the Buryat sculptor from Russia in Europe continued.
In the following 2013, he became a laureate of the international sculpture competition "Pietrasanta e Versilia nel Mondo", which is held annually in Pietrasanta (Italian province of Lucca), a world-famous city where the greatest masters, including Michelangelo, worked.

Russian Asia in the Heart of Europe.

It was the first award of its kind given to a Russian sculptor.
Dashi Namdakov received the award and the title of "Artist of the Year" for his work on the Scythian theme. One of them - "Royal Hunt", - made in the famous Italian art casting workshops "Mariani" and "Massimo Del Chiaro", was presented to the public and experts on the main square of the city of Pietrasanta.

What they saw captivated the audience. The well-known Italian critic, poet, doctor of art criticism Giuseppe Cordoni left an enthusiastic review: “Maestro Dashi portrayed the beautiful Queen - the Amazon and the Tsar - the hero. They are in a state of rapid pursuit. They are the nomads of Eurasia, where the house is a tent, and the roof of the house is the sky above them. The souls of the horsemen “breathe” with the boundless immensity of the steppe, on which they gallop. For the author, the steppe is the center of the universe, it determines the essence of the existence of the sculpture's characters. It contains everything that the heroes embody and possess: the shamanic spirit of their ancestors, the secrets of early Buddhist culture, the signs and symbols of ancient art.”

In the "Royal Hunt" there is something that is not often seen today: plasticity, elegance, lightness, movement ...

"I'm happy!" - this is how the head of Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool, responded to the success of the sculptor. “I am immensely grateful to Dashi Namdakov for the power of his art, for the way it brings nations together. For the fact that today this freedom and freemen of the Scythian King and Queen are already here in the West in bronze, in the very center of world culture, arouse admiration from the discerning public and critics. Dasha's highly artistic aesthetics is read by people of various languages ​​and cultures, connects us, brings the spirit of Asia to the most remote corners of the planet.”
"Royal Hunt" is a part of the sculptural ensemble "Center of Asia" in the capital of Tuva - Kyzyl, ordered by Dashi Namdakov.

We look forward to the implementation of this plan.

"On the horse-holes!" - comes the command
People immediately take off on horses,
And the horses swallow the wind greedily,
The wind of those irrevocable days.
Yulia SHISHINA

Dashi was born in 1967 in a small village in the Chita region in a large family of a craftsman.
Dasha's father was known in the village as a man who knew how to make literally everything with his own hands - furniture, metal door handles, and carpets. His wooden sculptures of Buddhist deities and tangkas - Buddhist icons - were installed in monasteries. Therefore, from childhood, helping their father, the children learned different crafts, knew how to make things using different materials.

Dashi grew up in this atmosphere from early childhood, and therefore, by the time he grew up, he already knew how to do a lot with his own hands. But circumstances so developed that at the age of 15 Dasha suddenly became very ill, and for a long 7 years all visits to doctors did not bring any result. The young man was on the verge of death.

In the end, the parents ended up with a shaman, who explained the cause of illnesses and ailments by saying that people forgot their roots, stopped remembering their ancestors, remembering their names. The shaman performed her ritual. Incredibly, the pain subsided immediately. And after 7 days, Dasha was in another city and was looking for a job. That shaman predicted success for him, because Dasha had the ability to see the beauty of the surrounding things and embody it in her works.

Dashi starts working in the workshop of the Buryat sculptor G.G.Vasiliev in Ulan-Ude, where he hones his skills in working with different materials. Then in 1988 he entered the Krasnoyarsk Art Institute. Famous artists - L.N. Golovnitsky, Yu.P. Ishkhanov, A.Kh. Boyarlin, E.I. Pakhomov became his mentors.

After graduating from the institute in 1992, Dashi returns to Ulan-Ude, where he continues to work. In 2000, after the first solo exhibition in Irkutsk, it became clear that a new name had appeared in the art world - Dashi Namdakova. The exhibition made a splash in the art establishment. This was followed by successful exhibitions in other cities of Russia, successful shows abroad.

"Images often visit me at night," says Dashi, "when consciousness is in a borderline state between the real world and the world inhabited by illusions and spirits." Dasha scrupulously puts these visions on paper so as not to forget, and then skillfully transfers what she saw to another material - bronze, silver.

Dasha's sculptures come from distant worlds. From there, where there is no boundary between man and the universe, everything is there - particles of the universe, occupying a niche prepared for everyone in an endless stream of universal transformations. This is how the East perceives this world - finding beauty in its integrity and fragile harmony, fearing to destroy the order established by the Almighty with an awkward movement.

From here, shamans appear in Dasha's works, who still play an important role in the life of modern Buryats. The wisdom of things seen by Dasha pierces all his works. His warriors, tired of the war, do not seem like inhuman barbarians, but are filled with wisdom and greatness. Dasha's women are seductive and sensual in an earthly way, but at the same time she bashfully turns away from the artist deprived of modesty. If you look closely at a resting fallow deer, is it possible not to see a sleeping girl in it? Beauty surrounds us, wherever we are, but not everyone can see it.

"Perceive the world as it is, for its creator is wiser than you," Dasha's sculptures say, "then true beauty will be revealed to you."

The works of Dashi Namdakov, thanks to an amazing combination of innovation and ancient traditions of Buryatia, unusual plasticity and exceptional craftsmanship, were acquired for the personal collections of the first persons of Russia, including the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin.

Dashi Namdakov is a sculptor who needs no introduction. His works are made in the technique of artistic casting, forging and mixed media. The master's favorite materials are silver, gold, bronze, copper, wood, horsehair, mammoth tusk. Sculptures, jewelry miniatures, graphics - in all this one can see his original style, unlike any other, which is based on elements of national culture, traditions of Central Asia, Buddhist motifs. And at the same time, his work is clear to everyone, as if there is something in his work that touches the most delicate strings of the soul of a person of any nationality.

Legend (bracelet)

Excitement (pendant)

Africa (ring)

Africa (pendant)

Africa (earrings)

Lamb (pendant)

Gemini (neck decoration)

Nocturne (ring)

Babylon (ring)

Eternity (pendant)

Eternity (earrings)

Horse head (pectoral)

Rhinoceros beetle

Snake (pendant)

Truth (bracelet)

Capricorn (ring)

Mosquito (statue)

Lemur (ring)

Larvae (earrings)

Frog (ring)

Little Buddha (miniature)

Manta (pendant)

Manta (ring)

Mask (print)

Nautilus (pendant)

Rhinoceros

Aries (ring)

Octopus (ring)

Huntress

Panther (pendant)

Panther (earrings)

Spider (pendant)

Flight (pendant)

Princess

Enlightened

Birth

Cricket

Scythia (pendant)

The sculptor's family belongs to the ancient family of blacksmiths-Darkhate, from which the best jewelers, craftsmen and artists came out. Only they were allowed to work with fire, the sacred symbol of the chosen.

By religion, Namdakov is a Buddhist. The artist's father carved Buddhist symbols, figures of lamas and deities from wood.

Buddhism is deeply reflected in Dasha's work. When asked what role Buddhism plays in his work, he replied that, as a Buddhist, it was even strange for him to hear such a question.

On the wall of the datsan in St. Petersburg there is a marble plaque-bas-relief in memory of the first rector of the temple, made by the artist.

The traditional images of his works are immediately visible - these are nomads, warriors and horsemen, sacred figures, magical women, patrons of the Buryats: totem animals and mythological creatures.

The viewer is presented with deformed, curved, elongated characters with disproportionate parts of the body, for example, elongated necks and elongated limbs. Almost all of them have Asian facial features.

Until the age of seven, Namdakov did not speak Russian, he lived in the house of his ancestors. In this regard, he later noted:

“I had a full-fledged rich world, just a gigantic one, which was saturated with all kinds of spirits, animals, creatures. And when I went to school, they told me: “The whole world fits in this sheet, throw everything else out of your head. It's your sick imagination." And the world shrank into this leaf. I am 44 years old and all my life I have been fighting how to get rid of this sheet that limits me, I owe everything that I can to my parents, to my homeland.

Dashi Namdakov began working in the workshop of the Buryat sculptor G. G. Vasiliev in the city of Ulan-Ude.

In 1988 he entered the Krasnoyarsk State Art Institute, studied with artists and sculptors L. N. Golovnitsky (who came to Siberia from Leningrad to teach), Yu. P. Ishkhanov, A. Kh. Boyarlin, E. I. Pakhomov.

After graduating from the institute in 1992, Dashi returns to Ulan-Ude, where he continues to work.

In the 1990s, Dashi Namdakov opened a small jewelry workshop in Ulan-Ude. “This money and part of the salary of my wife, who then worked at Sberbank,” he later recalled, “we spent on bronze. But casting from this material is a whole technology. It is impossible to do this alone - people who need to be paid a salary are needed. In general, I think that we would have much more sculptors if it were possible to organize this process more simply.”

In 2000, the first personal exhibition of Dasha Namdakov was held in Irkutsk.

According to Dasha, the results of this exhibition were a big surprise for him. Before her, he believed that his art was interesting only to the Buryats and Mongols, residents of the Irkutsk and Chita regions, but nothing more. And it was after this vernissage that Dasha's creative fate went up sharply: he moved to Moscow, his exhibitions are regularly held in Europe and Asia, in America.

Creation

The works of D. B. Namdakov are made in the technique of artistic casting, forging and mixed media. The works are made of bronze, silver, gold, copper, precious stones, as well as bone (mammoth tusk), horse hair and wood.

Sculpture, jewelry, graphics and tapestries have a pronounced unique author's style, which is based on elements of national culture, traditions of Central Asia, and Buddhist motifs.

Dashi Namdakov's works are kept in the collections of the State Hermitage Museum, the Russian Museum of Ethnography in St. Petersburg, the Museum of Oriental Art, the Museum of Modern Art in Moscow, in museums in many countries of the world, including the Tibet House (New York) and Art Museum (Guangzhou, China). Sculptures are in private collections of V. V. Putin (“Elements”), M. Sh. Shaimiev (“Horseman”), Yu. M. Luzhkov, R. A. Abramovich (“Evening”, “Old Warrior”), others representatives of the elite of Russian politics and business, as well as in private collections in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, Japan, USA, Taiwan.

The works of D. B. Namdakov are possessed by such well-known and influential people as diverse in character as Gerhard Schroeder, country music star Willie Nelson, and actress Uma Thurman. On April 14, 2012, a monumental sculpture of Genghis Khan by Dashi Namdakov was installed in London.

Sculptures by D. B. Namdakov "Masks" and "Actor" were the prizes of the All-Russian Festival of Modern Drama. Vampilov (Irkutsk, 2002, 2003), and the sculpture "The Owner" - the International Documentary Film Festival in Irkutsk (2002). In 2003 he was awarded the silver medal of the Russian Academy of Arts.

Since 2004, D. B. Namdakov has been living and working in Moscow, since 2014 in London.

In 2007, he provided art design for the film Mongol. In March 2008, D. B. Namdakov received the “Nika-2008” award “for the best work of the artist” in this film, as well as the “White Elephant”.

On July 30, 2008, the sculptor's workshop was robbed (moreover, they took away not only jewelry, but also molds for making them). “Everything that we had accumulated in five years,” D. B. Namdakov claimed, “was taken away in one night.

Some people, of course, got very rich - God bless them. At first we had a panic, but then we calmed down. After all, it was not only my work, but also my colleagues - jewelers and stone craftsmen. But we set the task and completed the collection again on time.”

Dashi Namdakov, exhibition in New York

Confession

Dashi Namdakov in 2015 was elected an honorary academician of the Florentine Academy of Drawing Art.

Exhibitions

2015

Ordos Sculpture Museum
Ordos, China. Personal exhibition

Soul of Asia
V. Bronstein Gallery
Irkutsk, Russia. group exhibition

Transformation
Academy of Fine Arts
Florence, Italy. Personal exhibition

Journey to a mystical land: Dasha Namdakov's memories of Asia
Gallery Shchukin

The art of creating
Halsyon Gallery, London, UK. Group exhibition.

Nomad. Works by Russian sculptor Dashi Namdakov
Henan Provincial Museum
China. Personal exhibition

2014

Nomad. Works by Russian sculptor Dashi Namdakov
Beijing World Art Museum
Beijing, China. Personal exhibition

Dashi Namdakov. Between heaven and earth
Halsyon Gallery, London, UK. Personal exhibition.

"Avatar"
Halsyon Gallery, London. group exhibition

Nostalgia for origins. Universe of nomads by Dashi Namdakov
Krasnoyarsk Art Museum named after V.I. Surikov

Nomad. Between heaven and earth
State Historical Museum, Moscow

2013

Magical visions: jewelry and sculpture by Dashi Namdakov
Gilbert Albert Gallery, New York, USA.
Personal exhibition.

Mystery
Buryat Republican Artistic
museum to them. Ts. S. Sampilova.
group exhibition

Nomad: memories of the future
National Society of Arts, New York, USA.
Personal exhibition.

"World of Myths"
Tampere Art Museum, Finland. Personal exhibition

2012

"Transformation"
State Center for Science and Culture. Prague, Czech Republic. Personal exhibition

"Nomad Universe"
Halsyon Gallery, London. Personal exhibition.

Hiko Mitsuno Jewelry College
Tokyo, Japan. Exhibition of jewelry and graphics "25"
Irkutsk Regional Art Museum and the Union of Artists. Irkutsk. Group exhibition.

2011

"Bronze Asia of Dashi Namdakov"
Irkutsk Regional Art Museum. V.P. Sukachev. Personal exhibition, participation in the program of the Baikal Economic Forum

"The Universe of the Nomad Dashi Namdakov"
State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan, Khazine Gallery, Kazan Kremlin. Personal exhibition

2010

"Nostalgia for the origins: the universe of nomads Dashi Namdakov"
St. Petersburg, State Hermitage. Personal exhibition

Russian National Exhibition in Paris
Palace of the Grand Palais. Participation.

"Transformation: sculpture and graphics by Dashi Namdakov"
Villa Versiliana, Pietrasanta, Italy. Exhibition project

2009

Buryat Republican Art Museum. Ts. S. Sampilova. Personal exhibition

"Element" Dashi Namdakov
Omsk Regional Art Museum. M. Vrubel. Personal exhibition

"Element" by Dashi Namdakov: sculpture, graphics, jewelry collection"

Moscow State Exhibition Hall "New Manege". Personal exhibition

2008

"Bronze Asia Dashi"
Museum of the city of Dalian, China. Personal exhibition

"Transformation: sculpture, graphics and jewelry collection of Dashi Namdakov"
,

"Transformation: sculpture, graphics and jewelry collection of Dashi Namdakov"
Gallery "House of Nashchokin", Moscow. Personal exhibition

2007

State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow. Personal exhibition

"Bronze Asia Dashi"
Zhongshan City Museum, China. Personal exhibition

"Bronze Asia Dashi"
Museum of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China. Personal exhibition

"Bronze Asia Dashi"
Exhibition Center of Dongguan, China. Personal exhibition

"Spirit Expression"
The State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia together with the gallery "Dom Nashchokin", Moscow. group exhibition

2006

"Rider under the firmament"
Art Center, Taichung, Taiwan. Personal exhibition.

"Nomad Universe"
Beijing World Art Museum (Chinese Altar Millennium Museum)

Beijing, China
Exhibition project in cooperation with the Museum of the History of the Republic of Buryatia and the Irkutsk Regional Museum of Local Lore

China international gallery exposition
Beijing, China. Participation

"Open Russia"
National Museum of Fine Arts

Participation in a group exhibition of Russian artists
Beijing, China. International project.

2005

"Rider under the firmament"
National History Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. Personal exhibition

Art Taipei
Taipei, Taiwan. Participation

"Rider under the firmament"
History Museum, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Exhibition project.
Together with A. Ivashchenko, a collector of Buddhist thangka icons

Songjing Gallery
Singapore. Personal exhibition (jewelry art, sculpture)

Gallery "Hanart"
Hong Kong. Personal exhibition (jewelry art, sculpture)

Jeff Hsu Art Gallery
Taipei, Taiwan. Personal exhibition

Singapore Jewelry Show
Singapore. Participation

Moscow International Fine Arts Salon
Central Exhibition Hall "Manege", Moscow. Participation

Los Angeles International Antique
Fine Art and Jewelry Fair, Los Angeles, USA. Participation

Chicago Contemporary and Classic
Chicago, USA. Participation

Art Miami, Miami Beach
USA. Participation

Pal, Beach Connaisseurs
West Palm Beach, USA. Participation

2004

International Exhibition Center
Hong Kong. Private screening as part of the RBC international conference

Gertsev Gallery
Atlanta. Personal exhibition

"Nomad Universe"
State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow.
Exhibition project in conjunction with the collections of the Buryat Research Center and Siberian collectors

Tibet House US
New York, USA. Personal exhibition

Russian week, Palace hotel GSTAAD
Switzerland: Group exhibition

Central House of Artists
Moscow. group exhibition

2003

Art Museum
Yekaterinburg. Personal exhibition

Russian Ethnographic Museum
St. Petersburg. Personal exhibition

State Museum of Oriental Art
Moscow. Personal exhibition

Irkutsk Regional Art Museum. V.P. Sukacheva
Irkutsk. Personal exhibition

Krasnoyarsk Cultural and Historical Museum Complex
Museum Biennale. Personal exhibition.

2002

Zurab Tseretelli Art Gallery
Moscow. Personal exhibition

Central House of Artists
Moscow. group exhibition

2001

Gallery "Classics"
Irkutsk. Personal exhibition

Museum of the History of the Republic of Buryatia
Ulan-Ude. Personal exhibition

Gallery of the Union of Artists in Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar

2000

Irkutsk Regional Art Museum. V.P. Sukacheva
Irkutsk. Personal exhibition

Sculptor Dashi Namdakov

Dashi Namdakov - Buryat artist and sculptor . Photo 2004. Despite the pronounced national flavor of the works of the Buryat sculptor Dashi Namdakov, he is perceived as a representative of universal culture. He is received wonderfully everywhere. “Dashi, everything is fine. Too bad you're not Chinese! And yet you are ours! the Chinese say.

Dashi Namdakovor Dashinim Balzhanovich Namdakov, was born in the Buryat village of Ukurik, in the Chita region, in 1967. He was the sixth child in a large family. Mastery came to Dasha with genes, since the whole family of this artist and sculptor was engaged in blacksmithing and jewelry. The father of this sculptor carved Buddhist symbols and various deities from wood.

Having absorbed centuries of experience with mother's milk, the traditions of the Buryat people, brought up on myths, legends, uligers (epic tales), fairy tales, Dasha did not speak Russian until the age of 7, but lived in the world of his ancestors.
- I had a full-fledged rich world, just a gigantic one, which was saturated with all kinds of spirits, animals, creatures. And when I went to school, they told me: “The whole world fits in this sheet, throw everything else out of your head. It's your sick imagination." And the world shrank into this leaf. I am 44 years old and all my life I have been fighting how to get rid of this list that limits me - Dashi Namdakov shares - everything that I can, I owe to my parents, to my homeland.
The Namdakov family belongs to the caste of blacksmiths-darkhans "Darhate", revered in Buryatia. Blacksmithing among the Buryats was considered a gift from God: “By order of the Western Tengris, the blacksmith Bozhintoy sent his children to the land to teach people blacksmithing, this art began to be inherited by descendants” (lines from the legend of the Buryats). Dasha Namdakov's father is a master of all trades: he made furniture, weaved carpets, was engaged in painting, carved sculptures of Buddhist deities and thangkas (Buddhist icons) from wood. Brought up in such an environment, Dashi absorbed all the best.

He studied at the Krasnoyarsk State Art Institute, after which he moved to Ulan-Ude.

Below is an interview with Dashi Namdakov, which was taken by Elena Preobrazhenskaya. (Source: Preobrazhenskaya E. The plasticity of the Buddha. / Elena Preobrazhenskaya. / / Peasant woman. - 2004. - No. 1 - p. 68-71)

Dashi Namdakov. Archer. 2000

The sculptor Dasha NAMDAKOV is unusual in everything. The exotic name, which completely sounds like Dashi-Nima and in translation means "lucky sun", was given to him by his parents on the advice of Buddhist lamas. In his story there is a serious illness, removed, as he believes, a curse, the ensuing recovery and success - the kind that is sometimes expected all his life. But the most important and truly magical is his work.

Shamans, warriors, princes, animals, birds, nature spirits, trees are his usual heroes. Bronze is my favorite material. Today Dashi Namdakov is more than popular and in demand. Exhibitions of the sculptor are held with constant success. He was invited to cooperate with the largest galleries in the world. It was his works that became the prizes of the International Ecological Film Festival and a number of competitions. The State Hermitage acquired Dasha's sculptures for its display, not to mention collectors from Europe, Japan, Germany and the USA. Three sculptures by Dasha Namdakov are in the personal collection of Vladimir Putin.

- What was the situation like?

I grew up in a world that is simply unfamiliar to the average person. Born in the village of Ukurik, in the Chita region, near Buryatia. Our land is full of myths, tales, legends. Even today they believe in spirits, shamans, witchcraft. Although believe is not even the right word. As the inhabitants of Ancient Greece did not even think to doubt the existence of the gods, their will, spirits, dragons, all kinds of evil spirits, living quite comfortably in such a system of the world, the Buryats live approximately the same way. And it is difficult for a person who grew up and lives outside the Buryat land to perceive all this.

- And you really had to become a shaman, not a sculptor?

I have powerful shamanic roots. But from childhood I aspired to something else: to be an artist, to realize myself in the fine arts. In general, we were brought up like this: we were never scolded, never beaten, never advised anything. For example, I was seriously engaged in boxing and saw very well that my parents disapproved of this. Not a single word was said to me, but I felt their extreme displeasure.

- But you ignored it?

The fact is that I was forced to play sports, I had to fight well in order to survive. At the age of seven, I ended up in a boarding school, the rules of which are quite comparable to those in the army. This cruel world has become a contrast to the world of my early childhood, filled with beauty, fairy tales, communication with nature. I think that the disease that haunted me until adolescence and which many have dismissed as a publicity stunt was not least caused by this dissonance. And shamans, curses, the methods of treatment prescribed by them - all this was also present and completely logically superimposed on the life situation. I am a very sensitive person, and it was extremely difficult for me to exist among rudeness and cruelty. I had to learn to defend myself.

- And how was artistic education carried out within the family?

My parents are peasants, but my father is a Buddhist artist. Not an artist by profession, he always painted, carved wood for Buddhist temples. Only a believer can be such an artist. All the upbringing in the family oriented the children - and we are eight people - precisely to artistic creativity. We all sculpted, carved wood, painted, weaved wool, minted metal. They sat in a circle and wove, for example, a carpet. The father gave a certain theme, and each in his own way weaved his part of the overall pattern. They painted in the same way: each, to the best of his ability, completed that fragment of the overall picture that he could handle. So I always dreamed of being an artist.

Dashi Namdakov. Ritual. 2001

- A Buddhist artist?

You see, this concept - Buddhist art - has its own specifics. Everything that a Buddhist artist does is subordinated to one goal: to express the attitude of a sincerely believing person towards religion. A small child is God, everything he does is absolutely devoid of sinfulness. And from this point of view, everything that I did then, as a child, was much closer to Buddhist art. But you need to understand: what I do today, what is presented at my exhibitions and in catalogs, is absolutely secular art. There are a huge number of nuances that, in fact, make the sculpture religious or secular. In order to seriously engage in Buddhist art, I still need to study a lot of things in more detail and deeply - traditions, history ... The slightest mistake entails punishment - such is the view of the work of a Buddhist. Religious things are meant to strictly conform to the canon. Today I don't feel ready, mature enough for this kind of work. I left it for later, the time will come, and I will do really Buddhist plasticity. Probably, for a person who is far from the Buddhist environment, any exotic - Mongolian, Tibetan, Buryat - is Buddhist. I was born in this cultural tradition, grew up in it, and, apparently, everything I do will carry a somewhat exotic, and for an amateur, just a Buddhist echo. Even if I really want to, it's impossible to get rid of it.

In Buryatia, I lived in an absolutely closed space, I did not visit either America or Europe, I was in Moscow a couple of times and not for long. I did not see the museums of the world, did not have a particularly clear idea of ​​​​modern art. But, you know, sometimes it seems to me that if I had moved in a more open environment since childhood, I would not have become who I am. My works would be mediocre and faceless, it would be difficult to catch my individuality in them. Of course, information is necessary, it is impossible, and indeed impossible, to artificially protect oneself from it. But some isolation allowed me to fully absorb, experience and feel the culture and history of Buryatia, my native people.

Dashi Namdakov. PEARL. Bronze, 2001. Female images in the sculptures of Dashi Namdakov are chaste, gentle and lyrical.

- But at the same time you received a classical art education?

— Yes, I graduated from the sculpture department of the Krasnoyarsk Art Institute. But, as you can see, academic education did nothing to correct my own author's view, did not make my works more European, did not deprive them of what is called "ethnic flavor". It is quite possible that if I graduated from one of the more authoritarian schools of painting - say, the Surikov Institute in Moscow or the Repin Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg - everything would be a little different. There, in any case, until recently, they taught quite hard. It is difficult to get rid of the influence of a certain school in painting: after all, we know a lot of examples when a whole stream of students paints the way their teacher does - and nothing can be done about it.

In this case, is it necessary to study the artist at all? Isn't this a threat to his identity?

To do anything, you must have a certain base. At the institute, I received purely academic skills: the image of light, shadow, proportions, plastic techniques. Mastering all this at the level of technology gives freedom in expressing ideas. But study did not affect my perception of the world in any way. I have been very lucky with the teachers. Among them were, for example, such people as Eduard Pakhomov and Azat Bayarlin, they themselves had recently graduated from Repinka and did not at all seek to somehow influence their students from positions of authority, did not present themselves as mentors. To influence, to educate in art is an extremely responsible matter, and, fortunately, they understood this. We have developed a friendship rather than a student-mentoring relationship. But after the institute, I had to do a variety of things, including those that had nothing to do with the fine arts. After all, I graduated from the institute in 1992, remember that it was for a time - a crisis, uncertainty. Besides, it was in Ulan-Ude, not in Moscow. If wealthy foreigners interested in painting appeared here, then everything was much more difficult there. In any case, no art to earn a living was not realistic. But I had to support my family. And I, for example, was engaged in business - I traded in tea. Everything was. I was very lucky: my wife always supported me. She is an accountant, then she worked in a banking structure and did not saw me, did not force me to go and earn money at all costs. My wife told me: "Wait, if not now, but later your time will come."

Dashi Namdakov. Queen. 2001. The graceful movements of a naturally flexible cat are energetic. Developed musculature and extended claws leave no doubt for a minute that the maternal instinct of the black panther is strong, and she is dangerous to those who can pose a threat to her offspring.

The modern Russian sculptor Dashinima Namdakov from an ancient family of Buryat blacksmiths-darkhans is a fairly famous artist, even for those who have never heard his name - for example, you have probably come across photographs of the new wedding palace in Kazan. His creations are incredible. Namdakov's work can even frighten or anger narrow-minded people, as they are frightened or angered by everything that breaks the boundaries of the familiar, even if it is unusual, unusual, non-ordinary perfection.

Dashi is very fond of shamanism, communicates with shamans. and says that, being immersed in this environment, he fills his works with a certain energy.

"one shaman who came to my exhibition just flew out of the hall like a bullet: it became impossible for him to be near my sculptures. These are very delicate things."

Siberian shaman

Memory

Master

"Some things and images come to me in a dream, and you need to be able to concentrate on them and remember, otherwise they go nowhere."

nobleman

Eternity

“I had a full-fledged rich world, just a gigantic one, which was saturated with all kinds of spirits, animals, creatures. And when I went to school, they told me: “The whole world fits on this sheet, throw everything else out of your head. This is your sick imagination” "And the world shrank into this sheet. I am 44 years old and all my life I have been fighting how to get rid of this sheet that limits me."

spider skull

"I had problems with the humanities, I was more successful in the exact sciences."

Buha-Noyon. According to legend, on the eastern spurs of the Sayans, located at the southern tip of Lake Baikal, lived a giant gray bull Bukha-Noyon, the totem progenitor of one of the Mongolian peoples. Once he entered into battle with another, no less powerful totem bull named Buhe-Shulun. The battle went on for many days. None of them could win. Then one of them went to the Tunkinskaya valley, where it turned into a white rock Bukhe-Noyon, the second - to the Barguzinskaya valley, and also became a stone with the corresponding name. Both of them became famous, people worship both. The earth is great, there is a place for everyone on it, and everyone can be known and famous, - such a moral is derived by the Buryats from this legend ... and besides, this sculpture has practically disappeared from

spider beetle

Spider beetle-2

Love

Transformation "Gerel" (Mong. "Light")

Transformation "Erdani" (Mong. "Jewel")

tropical fly

Snail

"It's nicer to get high marks from professionals, because they are the engine of the process."