A contemporary Kazakhstani artist and a member of the art group Kyzyl Traktor. His works include photography, video art, performance art, graphic art, painting, and sculpture. Key methods in his work include irony, play, semiotics, and hyperbole. Key ideas are the search for cultural identity, shamanism, and nomadism.

After graduating from the T. Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts (KazNAI, Almaty, 1984), A. Shalbayev began teaching at the Fine Arts and Technical Design School named after A. Kasteyev (Shymkent), where he met Vitaly Simakov and soon joined the avant-garde art group Kyzyl Traktor (until 1995 – “SaA Group,” “Shymkent – Transavantgarde,” “Structural School Si”). At the same time, he worked as an individual artist, and in 1991, his debut solo exhibition took place (Bal-Bal Gallery, Shymkent).

In his work, Shalbayev draws on tradition and cultural memory (“Rain,” 2016) as well as on heroic imagery (“Genghis Khan,” 2012). His works are allegorical: they raise the theme of instability through the symbolism of destruction (“The Last Drop,” 2019) and the problem of labor migration through the image of flight (“The Golden Man,” 2014). The artist expresses his connection with the past through meditative, fragmented images of memories (“One Day of My River, or Syr Darya,” 2013) and frames them in a clearly defined visual setting (“Moonlight Sonata,” 2006).

A. Shalbayev's works have been presented at exhibitions and festivals: “Shymkent – Transavantgarde” (Sobor Exhibition Hall, Almaty, 1994), the Prague Quadrennial (Prague, 2003), the Festival of Art and Culture (Central Asia Festival; World Bank, Washington, 2005), “Boomerang” (Esentai Gallery, Almaty, 2016), the 58th Venice Biennale (Venice, 2019), and “Memory, Space, Progress” (A. Kasteev State Museum of Fine Arts, Almaty, 2023).

As a member of the Kyzyl Traktor group, A. Shalbayev took part in the “Sound OFF” exhibition held as part of the Korkut Sonic Arts Triennale (Ykhlas Museum of Folk Musical Instruments, 2022).

A. Shalbayev's works and information about him are stored in the Documentation project collection: the Şağylys collection, developed by the Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture and M HKA, and the archive of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art — Almaty (SCCA).

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Photograph provided by Arystanbek Shalbayev