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Gwangju Biennale Foundation
Press Release
For immediate release – June 1, 2023
14th Gwangju Biennale Participant
Bakhyt Bubikanova Passes Away
With great sadness, the Gwangju Biennale Foundation announces the passing of Bakhyt Bubikanova (b. 1985), a prominent figure in the younger generation of Kazakh artists. This makes the 14th Gwangju Biennale Bubikanova's last exhibition.
Gwangju Biennale Foundation President Park Yang-woo has reached out to the bereaved family, expressing profound condolences.
Bubikanova was a versatile artist, adept in a variety of techniques, including painting, collage, installation, performance, photography, and video art. She concluded a successful solo exhibition in Kazakhstan in early 2022 before participating in the Biennale.
Aspan Gallery, which represented the late artist, stated on social media, “Her work was characterised by great energy and humour. We were honoured to work with Bakhyt for many years. We are deeply saddened by her passing and our thoughts go to her family.”
Bubikanova’s paintings that reinterpret traditional miniature paintings from Central Asia in a space reminiscent of Toulouse-Lautrec's cabaret are on display at the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall's third gallery Ancestral Voices. These artworks, painted in the style of traditional Oriental Miniatures, incorporate motifs reminiscent of Uzbek or Persian origins, with traces of deliberate erasures and eliminations. The removal of excess elements from the paintings draws attention to a sense of emptiness and incompleteness, which the artist described as the ‘Absence Spirit.’
Notes to Editors
[Link] press release, images
14th Gwangju Biennale
soft and weak like water
April 7–July 9, 2023
https://14gwangjubiennale.com/
Press contact: Elisa Lee, elisa.lee@gwangjubiennale.org
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