Mergen Kavaldanov, Autobiography

Abstract

Mergen talks about himself: his upbringing, childhood, schooling and his work. I was born in Elista on 11 February1977 into a family of teachers. I finished secondary school No 18. As my grandmother worked in the Ministry of Culture of Kalmykia, I grew up knowing creative people and from my childhood wanted to be a sculptor. Although my grandmother discouraged me from this, I was persistent with my dream. When my mother was pregnant with me, she wanted a baby who would be either a dancer or an artist, so my choice was programmed. In my childhood I loved singing. I studied in a drawing class in an art school in Elista where I was molded into an artist. Later when I went to an academy I simply replenished my knowledge. Therefore, I am very grateful to my first teachers, Evgeniy Khakhulin, Delya Vaskina and others. When I entered the St. Petersburg Art and Industry Academy, I thought of myself as a good painter, but eventually decided to study ceramics. Most teachers know that young people who enter the academy are very ambitious, so they try to suppress their youthful arrogance. If the Repin Academic Institute of Fine Arts produces artists who draw with photographic precision, then our academy prepares specialists in contemporary art. I wish to become an artist who propagates Kalmyk art through the use of modern visual materials. That is why I did my thesis work on the epos Jangar in the style of Suprematism and Expressionism. I think everyone liked my work. It has been exhibited not only in our academy but abroad as well. When I was working on the epos Jangar, I reimagined all the heroes of that epos. As I was working on Mingiyan, I remembered a line in the epos describing this hero as one at whose sight the buttons in women’s dresses unbuttoned by themselves. I used this idea in his depiction. In my work the hero Khongor has a big hole in the middle of his chest, which symbolizes his oath that he would take his heart out and dedicate it the people and his homeland. My favorite character is Gyuzyan Gyumb. Fat and lazy, he is depicted as lying on the floor. The most complex were the characters of Jangar and Altan Tseji, who have similar characteristics. Altan Tseji wisely directed the young Jangar, instilling in him ideas about good, evil and honor. Altan Tseji is depicted in black and white, for his vision of the world is black-or-white. His view of the world does not allow mixed colors. Jangar himself is a very interesting and complex character. Sanal also has a colorful personality. The epos includes duality and opposite characters. Savr is the strongest among all the heroes. By contrast, Khongor, who is the embodiment of spiritual swiftness and savviness, wins not by brute force but by his strong will. Similarly, we Kalmyks may not be the strongest, but we have a strong willpower which helps us. Another example is Gyuzyan Gyumb and Altan Tseji. The former is a shaman, whereas the latter is a scholar. Mingiyan and Sanal, who are both extremely handsome, also differ. The former a little bit mischievous, whereas the latter is a strict and principled warrior. Our epos Jangar is amazing, with its descriptions of physical beauty, spiritual strength, smartness and strength. The heroes in my work are not natural beings, but are abstract figures. Why? Because you cannot depict the divine as a person in flesh and blood. In Kalmykia we have a legend about a saiga antelope, a nightingale and a battle horse that meet in the steppe. The nightingale says: ‘I am happy when I sing songs. Even the sun stops to listen to me. I give people happiness and they enjoy what I do’. The horse interrupts the nightingale: ‘You are wrong, because happiness is a victory. When you are a winner in a battle, competitions or races’. The saiga says: ‘You are both wrong. You, the nightingale, sing when your master orders you to do so. You, the horse, are not free either, because you bring victory to your horse-breeder only. But I, the saiga, race with the sun and the wind. I am the one who is really free and happy’. They argued and then scattered in different directions, everyone happy in their own way. In the same way, everyone imagines Jangar in their own ways. We can argue about Jangar a lot, but everyone will ultimately understand him differently, as a sage, a warrior, a divinity etc. And everyone will be right, because Jangar is a perfect person. For me personally, Jangar is a kind of religion.