A contemporary Kazakhstani artist, director, screenwriter, animator, designer, and founder of the animation studio “Sakhnovsky Park” (since 2015).
His works include painting, graphics, video, and media art. Key methods cover naivety, minimalism, humour, laughter, and irony. Key themes are everyday life, human relationships, boundaries, myth, the past and present, and the intersection of fantasy and reality.
He graduated from the Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University (Faculty of Art and Graphic Design, specialising in easel painting, 2001), after which he worked at the Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Almaty (SCCA, 2001–2004). In 2006, he moved to Russia and graduated from the SHAR School-Studio (2011) and the ARKA Higher School of Cinema (2020–2021).
V. Sakhnovsky received third prize from the international jury at the “Souvenir of Kazakhstan” exhibition (Almaty, 2002); the award for Best Student Film at the Open Russian Festival of Animated Films for his work “Primitive Dad” (Suzdal, 2013); a diploma in the category “For an Attempt to Push the Boundaries of Reality” at the 24th Russian Film Festival “Window to Europe” for the film “UFO Day” (2016); a diploma in the “Startup” category at the 4th National Animation Award “Icarus” for his work “Bodo Borodo” (2018); and the prize for Best Series at the 36th International Film Festival in Girona for his work “Primitive Dad: Eden” (Spain, 2024).
V. Sakhnovsky’s work explores the themes of interaction, conflict, and coexistence. In his graphic works, he reflects ironically on the state of waiting (“Friend,” 2005), explores the space of love and support in a couple (“Two,” 2006), and reworks local folklore based on jokes about ethnic minorities (“Chukcha, Chukcha, What Are You Fishing For?,” 2011). V. Sakhnovsky transfers the problem of the generation gap into the realm of animation and confronts the spaces of the mythical past and present (“Primitive Dad,” 2012; 2023–2024). He continues to explore the idea of the collision between fantasy and reality in media projects. This time, he does so through interactivity with the viewer, who becomes a co-author of animated films by “hacking” their scenography while watching them (cartoonhacker.ru, in collaboration with the “Master Film” project, 2015).
V. Sakhnovsky’s works have been exhibited in Kazakhstan and abroad: “Notes on the Streets” (“Tribuna” Gallery, Almaty, 2001); “Trans-forma” (Centre for Contemporary Art, Geneva, 2002); the Tengri-Umai International Art Festival (Almaty, 2002); “Two in One” (Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Almaty, 2002); “Souvenir of Kazakhstan” (“Tribuna” Gallery, Almaty, 2002); “We Are the People of Kazakhstan” (Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Almaty, 2006); the “Multobooz” Short Film Festival (International News Agency “Russia Today,” Moscow, 2018); and the 36th International Film Festival (Girona, 2024).
Information about V. Sakhnovsky is stored in the collection of the Documentation project – the archive of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Almaty (SCCA).
Photograph from Vladimir Sakhnovsky’s Facebook page