MIAT Mongolian Airlines Inflight Magazine includes interview with OtGO Otgonbayar E.
Otgonbayar E.: 
Someday, I will sail for Antarctica...



“I am crossing the bridge between two cultures on a horse; I experience through a Mongolian mindset, but conceptualize through a Western imagination,” Otgonbayar E. states, an artist gaining admiration in Germany. We sat down to converse with this unique personality, whose paintings have been compared to labyrinth like puzzles.
 


On large canvases, you paint intricate, densely cluttered, colorful patterns that seem as if they are moving. Your art reminds me of when a TV has no signal and static noise snow appears. With such an outspoken style and choices of color, what do you wish to communicate through your art? 

Every artist, and their artworks have their own unique expression. Because art is subjective, and everyone interprets it differently, I stray from giving definitive explanations about my artworks. I do believe there is an objective, Absolute reality- but how an individual approaches the materialistic
world is relative. However, although experiences are relative and subjective, nothing is really independent and free- everything is interconnected. Our lives, and nature in general, are all composed of complex connections. Thus, my art aims to capture how the universe is made of intricate tiny parts that are interconnected and by zooming out, you see how these parts come together to make a whole. The answer to your question is to be felt from this concept of interdependence of parts and wholes. This concept can only be effectively expressed through art, in my opinion.
 

Chinbat J. once said, “Otgonbayar’s Buddhist style can be compared with monks’ art of worship. His unique abstract expression of thousands of tiny people, or animal capture within them our culture and history. Westerners are most captured by that.” It is also said that you have painted about a million horses since 1998. In which of your artworks did you fit the most horses?

People always ask me exact numbers- how many horses or people I have fit into one painting is not important to me. One of my mentees used a computer program to count them and said there were around 2 million horses on one of my pieces. One of my other pieces, located in “Tuushin” Hotel, is 720 x 440 cm big, and is said to contain 70.000 horses.


Four years ago, you said that there are about 20.000 artists living in Berlin. The number has increased, I am sure. How do you stand out, our horse riding artist crossing the bridge between the East and the West? I am sure Western art critics, art majors and researchers have commented on your abstract expression of our culture.

Berlin is a magnet for artists and creators of all sorts. Every year, hundreds of artists come to Berlin to showcase their talent. Politically, people are not oppressed- they feel free to express, experiment and create. Berlin is definitely a place you feel most free. Because it is so multicultural, you do not feel the pressure to assimilate, or change, and you can freely be you. Rather than feeling pressured to assimilate, or change according to how others view my art, I personally feel most pressured from my Mongolian roots. It is my calling and duty to express my culture and heritage. When they see my art, they usually comment, “I have never seen anything like this!” I do not think there is a better compliment than that.


You moved to Berlin in 2005 to study. Who was your mentor when you first arrived?

At the time, I did not have a mentor. I had graduated with an Art Degree in Mongolia before moving to Berlin, so I was not seeking a mentor at the time. I was looking to grow internally, open up my mind and expand my horizons. The first few years, I saw every single gallery I could find to fully realize my vision, and understand my own state of mind, and identity. “I need to immediately start creating,” I told myself as I felt the pressure of time and necessity. But first, I needed to complete my course learning German. Afterwards, I entered the Institute for Art in Context at the Berlin University of Arts and in three years, completed my Master’s Degree.
 

After graduating, you opened “ZURAG” gallery, and shortly after, you opened a second gallery, “OTGO”. How did you initially finance your galleries? Starting with rent, I am sure it is expensive to run galleries.

It is an honor to carry the title “artist”, but it is financially challenging to live solely by that name. I made a confident, bold decision at the time. Carrying all the risk myself, and with a little help from my friends, I opened ZURAG in 2010. There is a saying in Mongolian culture, “Repairing the front of the skirt with the back of the skirt”- I was working non-stop, making ends meet. But I gained a lot of experience, and met a lot of people in the industry. I used to go to work and go home when the streets were empty.  I solely fund myself through my art. In Germany, galleries are usually named after the artist working the place, and so my gallery came to be known as OTGO. Now I am more focused on my own art. As time passed, I started displaying my own small and large-scaled artworks through various galleries around Berlin.
 

“Artists living in Berlin have a lot of opportunities. When their profits fall, and their taxes decrease, someone from the art commission comes to investigate and console. When the artist cannot afford rent, the commission funds them until they can stand on their own again. They also connect you with places that can grant you pensions or scholarships. Generally, they take good care of artists not to let them fall into unemployment,” you said before. Artists are essential creators of culture. How much care do they provide you in Germany? Do you get any support from the state to run your galleries?

German citizens and the state invest a lot into the Arts. Although I reside there, I am still a Mongolian citizen. Thus, it is hard to officially get any support from the German state. The art industry has a lower tax, and that helps.
 

“In the art industry, anyone under 40 must not get too much praise,” you said in the past. Has your mind changed? As people get older, they become more stubborn, fearful and conservative. Artists should be radical, experimentative and fearless. Don’t you think that art is born out of chaos and ego?

I meant something else by that. Generally, it is hard to be accepted and celebrated in the art industry. This is dependent on the audiences’ knowledge and understanding of art and culture movements. Young artists have a harder time establishing themselves, and getting recognition. They must overcome many obstacles to gain respect, and be recognized in the eyes of the public. From an art history standpoint, there are only a few artists who have gained fame before 40.
 

Other than in Mongolia, you exhibited your work in Germany, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Czech Republic, Japan, and India. How does the art industry vary from culture to culture? Are they resisting –isms? Are they re-entering the Renaissance age of hyper productivity in any way? How is art defined and interpreted in foreign countries these days?

Artists must create without getting compressed into –isms. Due to modern technologies, and readily available abundant sources of knowledge, they must constantly learn from history. Whether we want it or not, art is constantly evolving. In the past 20 years, people have been rapidly evolving through technology, competition, and out of fear of being outdated. The German public is highly educated in the field of Arts, and they have finely refined taste compared to other places, I thought.


If you had to name an accomplished modern artist from our era, whom would you name?

Most artists, if they are lucky enough to find their distinct voice to communicate their inner universe, they usually stick to that voice. But Gerhard Richter is constantly changing his voice, and each one authentic and distinct in its own way. And so he is undoubtedly, one of the leading artists of our era. 


Where and when did you last give a lecture? 

While painting, I also conduct substantial research work and implement my research into my art as well. Because I like to share with my associates and friends, and have intellectual discussions about my research, I give lectures. I last lectured in March at a German “Rotary Club Kloster Zinna”.
 

In Asian and European cities, artists exhibit their artworks in the streets, along riverbanks or in parks. This is an old tradition that has almost become an essential part of the culture. I wonder if they make enough from putting their works on the streets? Portrait caricatures, city scenery paintings- do they earn enough from these?  

In the olden times, professional and respected artists used to sit outside painting the streets, parks, and nature. Nowadays it is more of a side hobby, aside from their regular job. Most people with a EU passport have the means to get educated in the arts, and develop their creative capacities- they have taken some form of art or music classes at some point in their lives. I cannot say that they earn enough just from painting on the streets. But there are highly talented portrait painters, of course. Many artists enjoy creating art as an end in itself, and do not expect to make a living out of it. I have many friends as such.
 

Have you been to Antarctica? One of your paintings of Antarctica gained high recognition, I’m sure you had to do a lot research.

Someday, I will sail for Antarctica. I struggled a lot to complete that 300 x 900 cm painting. Due to human activity, the environment is suffering a great measure. Climate change is to be our foremost priority- it is critically affecting our ecosystems, destroying plants and animals. We are all in critical danger. Climate change is first melting the glaciers, but eventually, we will all melt away. My heart deeply aches watching this tragedy. To express this sentiment, I created my painting, “The Antarctica Panorama”. The endangered livelihoods of penguins call my deepest concern. We can see ourselves reflected in endangered species too, and we must make significant changes immediately. In my painting, the colors, brush strokes melt away along with the ice, snow and the penguins.


How prominent is Buddhism in Germany? You once said, “Paintings of Gods and deities are not to be merely painted, but to be meditated on. During this process of creating a sacred painting, you are recharged with divine energy. To complete the sacred portrait of a God, you finish with the pupil of the eyes, thereby, breathing life into the portrait.” How many Gods have you painted and breathed life into? 

I have created about 600 paintings of Buddhist Gods. But it has been over 10 years since I changed my subject. The time of our Awakening, and the gaining of God consciousness for humanity is approaching- I increasingly feel it everyday. I have read somewhere that every year, around 15.000 people turn away from the Catholic Church in Germany, and many of them turn to Buddhist teachings.


You have expressed your ambition to become a world acclaimed artist. Would you say you have reached your end goal?

When you confidently keep creating, your path is bound to lead you wherever you are meant to go. I still have a lot of dreams and goals I am working hard towards. Artists highly romanticize and idealize their vision for their art before creating it- I cannot say I have reached my ideals. 

Thank you for your time. Wish you all the best!
 

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