Vagif Rakhman

Vagif Rakhman graduated with A Master of Fine Arts Degree from Surikov Moscow University of Fine Arts in 1970. Since 1964 he has exhibited in more than 110 International Shows in Europe, Kazakhstan and Canada including 14 solo exhibitions in Kazakhstan, Europe, Canada and the USA. In 1981 he was awarded a title of Honored Artist of Kazakhstan. Vagif participated at 12 International Symposiums on Park Sculpture in Europe, Asia and Africa. He is a Gold Medal Winner of the Biennial in Baku (1990) and recipient of several awards and diplomas. In 1998 Vagif came to Canada. Vagif's sculptures can be found in museums, corporate and public collections in the U.S.A., Korea, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Mauritania and Poland; in private collections in the USA, Canada, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Liechtenstein, Holland, Australia, China, Israel and other countries. He has been widely reviewed on TV and other mass media. Vagif's images are, to an extent, real, variable and multi-layered, supported by complicated flexible symbols. Joy and pain, beauty and ugliness, life and death - all these eternal categories exist in his works. Vagif keeps two worlds within himself and that is his philosophical concept of life. The primodorial power of wood, stone, and bronze reveal the secret nature of its essence to Vagif. He uses them easily and freely. He involves one more participant into the play of forms - space. Having become the necessary plastic expressiveness, its functions are diverse. It may shape the volume, turn into air, become the decorative element and create the associative plan of conjecture. Vagif's sculptures are 'active' and offer a dialog with the spectator, where the spectator's understanding and association of his thoughts play a significant role.

Solo Exhibitions

1985 Dushanbe, Tajikistan
1988 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
1990 A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts, Almaty, Kazakhstan
1991 Baku, Azerbaijan
1993 Vaduz, Liechtenstein
1994 Tengri-Umai Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan
1995 Tengri-Umai Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan
1995 Rukh Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan
1996 Central Exhibition Hall, Almaty, Kazakhstan
1998 Tengri-Umai Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan
1998 A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts, Almaty, Kazakhstan
1999 Tengri-Umai Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan
1999 International Visions Gallery, Washington D.C., the U.S.A.
1999 Hittite Gallery, Yorkville, Toronto, Canada
2001 Figurative Bronze, Canadian Sculpture Center (SSC), Toronto, Canada
2001 Tengri-Umai Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan
2002 Stan Canada, Toronto, Canada
2003 Central Exhibition Hall, Almaty, Kazakhstan
2004 Tengri-Umai Gallery, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Main exhibitions

1981 International Sculpture Biennale, Vilan, Hungary
1989 Exhibition of Artists from Central Asia and Kazakhstan, Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan
1989 Sculpture Biennale, Baku, Azerbaijan
1999 14th Annual Juried Art Show, Scarborough, Canada
1999 Group Exhibition in Trias Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1999 ‘Go Figure’ Exhibition of Members of SSC, Canadian Sculpture Centre, Toronto
1999 Misletoe Magic Auction, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1999 Artfocus, 8th Annual Fall Artist’s Show, BCE Place, Toronto, Canada
1999 Winter Show, Trias Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1999 New Member’s Show, Canadian Sculpture Centre, Toronto, Canada
2000 Sculpture 2000, SSC Member’s Annual Exhibition, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2000 The Art of Collecting, Canadian Sculpture Center, Toronto, Canada
2000 Not just Moose, Garden Sculpture Show, Canadian Sculpture Center, Toronto, Canada
2000 Go Figure II, Canadian Sculpture Center, Toronto, Canada
2000 2 Artists Show, Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2000 Group Exhibition, Peterson Fine Art, Toronto, Canada
2000 Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, Canada
2001 Sculpture Mix IV, Canadian Sculpture Centre, Toronto, Canada
2001 Light, Canadian Sculpture Centre, Toronto, Canada
2001 Sculpture. Worx 2001, SSC Annual Show , John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2001 Toyamura International Sculpture Biennale 2001, Japan
2001 Group Show, Canadian Sculpture Center in conjunction with TIAF, Canada
2002 Peterson Art Gallery, Yorkville, Canada
2002 Sculpture Mix, Canadian Sculpture Centre, Toronto, Canada

International Symposiums on Park Sculpture

1972 Oronsk, Poland
1979 Riga, Latvia
1983 Baku, Azerbaijan
1984 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
1986 Riga, Latvia
1988 Burgas, Bulgaria
1989 Dzhambul, Kazakstan
1990 Ternopol, Ukraine
1991 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
1999 Ben Amira, Mauritania
2000 Greifswald, Germany
2001 Changchun, China
2002 Van, Turkey

Grants and Awards

2002 Diploma, International Symposium of Park Sculpture, Turkey
2001 Diploma, International Symposium, China
1999 ‘Best Sculpture’. Award at the Annual Juried Art Show, Scarborough
1997 Soros Foundation, Travel Grant
1990 Diploma, Symposium on Park Sculpture, Ukraine
1989 Golden Medal and The First Grade Diploma, Biennial of the Caspian Republics, Baku
1989 Diploma, Symposium on Park Sculpture, Kazakhstan
1989 Diploma and Medal, Exhibition of Artists of Middle Asia and Kazakstan
1988 Diploma, Symposium on Park Sculpture, Bulgaria
1984 Diploma, Symposium on Park Sculpture, Kyrgyzstan
1981 Diploma, International Biennial, Hungary
Since 1981 – Honored Artist of Kazakhstan.

Collections

A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts (Almaty, Kazakhstan)
Central National Museum of Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty, Kazakhstan),
Direction of the Exhibitions and Auctions (Almaty, Kazakhstan),
Astana Museum of Modern Art (Kazakhstan),
Karaganda Museum of Fine Arts (Kazakhstan),
Petropavlovsk Museum of Fine Arts (Kazakhstan),
Pavlodar Museum of Fine Arts (Kazakhstan),
Urgentch Museum of Fine Arts (Uzbekistan),
Karkaralinsk Museum of Fine Arts
Tengri-Umai Gallery (Almaty, Kazakhstan),
Embassy of Kazakhstan in Great Britain (London),
Ministry of Culture of Turkey (Ankara, Turkey),
Ministry of Culture of Russia (Moscow, Russia),
Mobile Oil Kazakhstan Inc. (USA),
TexaKaBank, Kazakhstan
Chunil Corporation (Korea),
Pushkin’s Private School (Toronto, Canada).
International Parks of Sculptures in Oronsk (Poland), Petch (Hungary), Burgas (Bulgaria), Ternopol (Ukraine), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Baku (Azerbaijan), Dzhambul (Kazakstan), Ben Amira (Mauritania), Greifswald (Germany), Chungchun (China).

Vagif Rakhmanov