A contemporary Kazakhstani artist and educator in the theory and practice of contemporary art, and one of the founders of the Kyzyl Traktor art group. His practice spans painting, collage, graphic works, photography, and performance. Key methods in V. Simakov’s practice cover deconstructivism, naïve idioms, visual quotation, semiotics, and polymorphism. Key ideas are the search for cultural identity, the everyday, the Soviet spatial environment, and the absurd.
After graduating from the Painting Department of the Ufa State Institute of Arts (1978–1984, Ufa), V. Simakov taught at the A. Kasteev College of Arts and Design (Shymkent) and at the Khoja Ahmed Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University (1995–2010, Turkistan). In the 1990s, he became one of the founders and members of the Kyzyl Traktor group (known before 1995 as the “SaA Group,” “Shymkent–Transavangard,” and the “Si Structural School”). On the group’s initiative, the Center for Contemporary Art at the Khoja Ahmed Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University was opened in 2002 in Shymkent.
V. Simakov’s work can be seen in the context of the avant-garde and the school of structural-spatial composition. It is built on the deconstruction of images (“Resting En Route – Abai Peak,” 2000), the search for abstract form (“Theatre,” 2000), and a carnivalesque, playful aesthetic (the series “Night Riders,” 2012). As part of Kyzyl Traktor, he created a red-tractor installation for the action “Mummification of the Tractor” (1997). He also developed concepts for performances, sometimes taking part himself (“The Brigadier’s Harem,” 2000). The group’s performative works and projects revolved around the quest for cultural identity and the weaving of the past and myth into the contemporary world (the film “Kyzyl Traktor,” 2002).
As a member of Kyzyl Traktor, V. Simakov exhibited in: “Shymkent–Transavangard” (Cathedral Hall, Almaty, 1990), “SaA” (Central House of Artists, Moscow, 1992), “Asia Art” (Central Exhibition Hall, Tashkent, 1997), “Transzendenz” (Kunsthalle, Vienna, 2000), “Ten Years of Kyzyl Traktor” (International Academy of Business, Almaty, 2001), and the Prague Quadrennial (2003, Prague).
Photographs of V. Simakov’s works and information about him are held in the “Documentation” project collections, including the Şağylys collection, developed by the Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture and the M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as in the archive of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Almaty (SCCA).
Photograph provided Arystanbek Shalbayev