Biographie en français: OTGO Otgonbayar Ershuu

OTGONBAYAR Ershuu

est né en 1981 dans la capitale de la Mongolie, Ulan Bator. Son nom est OtGO. Très tôt reconnu pour son talent, il présenta ses œuvres dans des expositions qui lui étaient entièrement consacrées dès l’âge de 15 ans. Il étudia la peinture traditionnelle mongole à Ulan Bator (1996-1998). Après ces études, il devint restaurateur et peintre dans plusieurs expéditions de recherches dédiées à des sites historiques en Mongolie.

Dans les monastères de bouddhisme-lamaïsme, il étudia diverses techniques ainsi que l’iconographie de la peinture miniature avec toute sa philosophie spirituelle (1998-2004). En plus de ces créations artistiques libres, son travail artistique comprend quelques 600 compositions miniatures.
De 2007-2010, il étudia à l’Institut d’Art de Berlin qui fut récompensé par un Master en Arts. Après ses études, OtGO ouvrit le premier centre culturel à Berlin (2010-2013) et fonda la galerie ZURAG à Berlin (2010-2014). C’est la première galerie fondée et dirigée par un mongol en dehors de la Mongolie.

En 2015, OtGO gagne le « GRAND PRIX » de la biennale internationale de peinture à Chisinau en Moldavie. Depuis 2018, il travaille comme conservateur en chef et la Galerie Nationale de Mongolie. En 2019, il participe à un projet de conservation à l’Université d’Arts de Berlin pour lequel il reçoit un titre.

OtGO reçoit la reconnaissance internationale pour l’ensemble de son travail et son œuvre. Un public croissant et de nombreux collectionneurs témoignent de leur admiration et enthousiasme pour sa peinture. Il est aussi à souligner également que son œuvre fait l’objet de recherches scientifiques internationales, ce qui est assez rare pour un artiste aussi jeune et de son vivant.

Université de Heidelberg – Magisterbeitsthema:
« Le culte de Gengis Khan dans la bande dessinée de OtGO » 2015
Sujet de thèse d’Ariane Sauer

www.uni-heidelberg.de

Université de Heidelberg – Masterarbeitsthema:
« Etudes sur Otgonbayar Ershuu. La peinture de OtGO entre peinture mongole traditionelle et art occidental » 2017
Sujet de thèse de Mélanie Becker

www.uni-heidelberg.de

OtGO expose au Japon, en Suède, France, Pays-Bas, Inde, la République Tchèque, Suisse, Les Emirats arabes unis, Singapour, Georgie, Allemagne et Mongolie.

Son travail est présent dans divers musées, institutions et collections privées parmi lesquels :
-    La Galerie d’Art Nationale de Mongolie, Musée Ulan Bator, Mongolie
-    Musée d’Art National de Moldavie
-    Musée d’Art à Ulan Bator en Mongolie
-    HSBC (Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation)
-    Le Château de Seeheim, Constance, Allemagne
-    Le Château de Bareuth, Allemagne
-    La Fondation Kunstdepot, Göschenen, Suisse
-    Le groupe MRK, Dresde – Munich, Allemagne

Une grande œuvre (720 x 420 cm) est exposée dans le hall d’entrée Best Western Hôtel Tuushin à Ulan Bator en Mongolie.

Otgonbayar Ershuu vit entre Berlin et Oulan-Bator.

More Info: www.mongolian-art.de/aboutme.htm

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german, english, french, romanian, polski, nederlands, lithuanian, and mongolian ...
TEXT:

TEXT: mongolian, english and german:
OtGO:
– The history of Native Americans and the transatlantic slave trade
Боолчлолын түүх: Атлантын далай дамнасан боолын худалдаа ба уугуул америкчууд
Die Geschichte der amerikanischen Ureinwohner und des transatlantischen Sklavenhandels
June 7, 2024 Basel, Switzerland

TEXT: lithuanian and english:
Vidas Poškus:
– OTGO: AMITAN
Vilnius, Lithuania – 2024

TEXT: english, french, nederlands,lithuanian and german:
Maryna Magnin:
– OtGO: The World Beyond 6/7/8
Savoie, France – 2022

TEXT: german and french:
Urner Wochenblatt
In sich ruhend Kraft des Malens folgen
Franka Kruse, Göschenen
Mongolischer Künstler OtGO schuf während zweier Monate im Kunstdepot fünf imposante «Otgöschenen-Bilder»
Hinter «Uritür» öffnet sich die Welt im Dickicht der Miniaturmalerei
Urner Wochenblatt | 147. Jahrgang | Nr. 61 | Samstag, 5. August 2023, Schweiz

TEXT: english and german:
Uranchimeg Tsultemin:
– OtGO: Immersive Painting for Global Viewer
Herron School of Art+Design, Indiana University, USA. July 2023

TEXT: french and german:
Maryna Magnin:
– OtGO: The World Beyond 13/14/15
Savoie, France – 18 Mars 2023

TEXT: english:
Zolboo Sandagjav:
– OtGO: The Whole in a Single
University of Bern, Switzerland. December 3, 2022

TEXT: french and german:
Maryna Magnin:
– OtGOs INFINITE
Savoie, France – Novembre 2022

TEXT: english and german:
Heinz Schuster:
– OtGOs Paradies/Paradise
Berlin 06. November 2022

TEXT: french, english and german:
Maryna Magnin:
– OtGO: Triptych The Last Supper
Savoie, France – Octobre 2022

TEXT: german:
Urner Wochenblatt
– Hochgefühle erleben
Urner Wochenblatt | Mittwoch, 06. Juli 2022

TEXT: german:
Franka Kruse, Urner Wochenblatt
– Sich in der Zeit verlieren und beim Malen den Augenblick im Jetzt fühlen
Urner Wochenblatt | 146. Jahrgang | Nr. 48 | Samstag, 18. Juni 2022

TEXT: polski and english:
Marzena Rafińska
– OtGO Paintings 1998 – 2022 A 24 Year Survey Exhibition
Historical Museum Skierniewic Poland
Exhibition: May 28 – July 31 2022

TEXT: french, english, mongolian and german:
Maryna Magnin:
– Ode to an unexpected encounter
Savoie, France – March, 2022

TEXT: french, english, nederlands and german:
Maryna Magnin:
– OtGO: Triptych The World Beyond
Savoie, France – Mai 2022

TEXT: mongolian, english and german:
OtGO Otgonbayar Ershuu:
Projektstart zur Einrichtung einer Gemälderestaurierungswerkstatt in der Nationalgalerie der Mongolei – Finanzierung durch das Kulturerhalt-Programm des Auswärtigen Amtes der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
"Уран зураг сэргээн засварлах лаборатори байгуулах" төслийг ХБНГУ-н гадаад хэргийн яамны Соёлын өвийг хадгалан хамгаалах хөтөлбөрийн санхүүгийн дэмжлэгийн хүрээнд хэрэгжихээр болов.
Ulaanbaatar – Berlin, Februar 2022

TEXT: mongolian, english and german:
OtGO Otgonbayar Ershuu:
MARZAN SHARAV (1869-1939)
The Court painter for the last Emperor of Mongolia
Berlin, December 2021

TEXT: english and german:
Andrea Gamp:
OtGO: Triptych Kingdom of the Apes
Konstanz – Berlin, March 2021

TEXT: english and german:
Andrea Gamp:
– OtGO: Triptych The Galleys of Souls
Konstanz – Berlin, Februar 2021

TEXT: english and german:
Daniela von Damaros:
BORN OUT OF DARKNESS – AUS DER DUNKELHEIT GEBOREN
Berlin, February 2021

TEXT: english and german:
Andrea Gamp:
– OtGO: The Secret Matrix of Coronavirus – or Confetti in Hell?
Konstanz – Berlin, Februar 2021

TEXT: english and german:
Andrea Gamp:
– A synthesis of public tours for the archive
OtGO Otgonbayar Ershuu: unendlich (infinite), exhibition at Kunstverein Konstanz (Art Association Constance) Konstanz, November 2020

TEXT: english and german:
Daniela von Damaros:
– Die Aufhebung von Raum und Zeit – The suspension of space and time
Studio OtGO Berlin 2020

TEXT: english, hungarian, mongolian, french and german:
Sipos Orsolya:
– OtGO: INFINITE – Museumpedagogy
Józsefvárosi Gallery, Budapest 28, 29 September 2020.
Participants: 4 classes of 3rd to 5th-grade aged group students

TEXT: english, hungarian, mongolian and german:
Endre Sipos and Sárosdi Davaakhuu Ganhold:
– VÉGTELEN 'INFINITE' SOLO OtGO SHOW
Józsefvárosi Galéria, Budapest, Hungary

TEXT: english, polski and german:
Mongolian & Tibetan studies at Oriental Studies Department, University of Warsaw, Poland
– Interview: between Aleksandra Gospodarczyk and OtGO Otgonbayar Ershuu
"Description of the origin and development of modern Mongolian painting based on the analysis of artistic creation of selected Mongolian painters" 2020

TEXT: german:
Joachim Schwitzler, SÜDKURIER
– Geballte malerische Kraft aus der Mongolei: Der Kunstverein Konstanz zeigt das eindrucksvolle Werk des Künstlers OtGO
Auf riesigen Leinwänden wird Winziges groß. Der Mensch spielt dabei nicht die erste Geige...
Von 27.09.2019

TEXT: german:
Dr. Dolores Claros-Salinas, Kunstverein Konstanz
– UNENDLICH: OtGO
Konstanz 20.09.2019

TEXT: mongolian:
J.Erdenetsetseg:
Э.Отгонбаяр: Хүлээн зөвшөөрөгдөж чадсан бол үнэ цэн, өндөр босготой байх ёстой
NEWS: in the newspaper 'UNUUDUR' (today) Ulaanbatar Sep. 20 .2019

TEXT: english and mongolian:
MIAT Mongolian Airlines Inflight Magazine includes interview with OtGO Otgonbayar E
– Otgonbayar E.: Someday, I will sail for Antarctica...
– Э.Отгонбаяр: Нэг л өдөр Антарктидийг зорино доо
MIAT inflight magazine: June to September 2019

TEXT: mongolian:
Ж.Чинбат:
– Абстракт, ахуй хоёр нэгдсэн нь
ОТГО-гийн ЗУРАГ буюу түүний дэлхийгээр аялсан бүтээлүүдийн тухай
« OtGO retrospective » MONGOLIAN NATIONAL ART GALLERY 2018

TEXT: mongolian:
M.Amarjargal:
– Уран зургаараа Европчуудыг гайхшруулж буй зураач Э.Отгонбаяртай ярилцлаа
News: Medee.MN Sep. 14 2018 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

TEXT: english and german:
Birgit Rieger, DER TAGESSPIEGEL
– Es ist der Geist, der zeichnet
– It is the spirit that is painting
Von 05.10.2018 Berlin

TEXT: german:
University of Heidelberg – magister thesis topic:
– Melanie Becker: Studien zu Otgonbayar Erschuu. Die Malerei Otgos zwischen mongolischer Tradition und westlicher Kunst (2017)

TEXT: german:
Georg Goes:
– Carolina Brack & OtGO 'NATURE TRANSFIGURED'
Museum Baruther Glashütte 2017 Germany

TEXT: mongolian:
E.Khana:
– ӨНӨӨДӨР сонин Э.ОТГОНБАЯР "Судалт таxь" -иа "сойжээ"
News: May. 12 2017

TEXT: mongolian:
С. Чулуунцэцэг:
– ЗУРААЧ ЭРШҮҮГИЙН ОТГОНБАЯР НЬ ДҮРСЛЭЛИЙН ИЛЭРХИЙЛЛИЙН ХЭЛ БОЛОХ МАХБОДОД ШИНЭЧЛЭЛ ХИЙГЭЭД ЗОГССОНГҮЙ, ДҮРСЛЭХ УРЛАГТ СЭТГЭЛГЭЭНИЙ ТЭЛЭЛТ БУЮУ "ДАЯАР УРЛАГ" - ИЙГ АВЧ ИРЭВ
2016.08.09 Улаанбаатар

TEXT: english:
Oyundari Erdenebat, The UB Post
– ART SPACE MONGOLIA features OtGO’s ‘Blue’
Aug 05, 2016 Ulaanbaatar

TEXT: english, romanian, mongolian and german:
Rolf Lauter:
– OtGO: ANTARCTIC PANORAMA PENGUINS
A memorial for the world’s slaughtered penguins ....
National Art Museum, Moldova, 2016

TEXT: mongolian:
MONGOL NEWS, TODAY:
Э.ОТГОНБАЯР: Манайхан их улстөржих юм. Бас бурууг хүнээс хайдаг
12/23/2015 Ulaanbaatar Mongolia

TEXT: english, mongolian and german:
J. Erdenetsetseg:
– Resurrection of 20. 000 penguins by a young Mongolian
Монгол залуу 20.000 оцон шувуу "амилуулжээ"
Wiederbelebung von 20.000 Pinguinen durch einen jungen Mongolen
12/22/2015 MONGOL NEWS, TODAY Ulaanbaatar Mongolia

TEXT: mongolian:
Б.Сэлэнгэ:
– Э.Отгонбаяр: Монголд дэлхийн стандартад нийцсэн музей байгуулж байна
10/29/2015 NEWS, UNEN THE NEWSPAPER '- ҮНЭН СОНИН: Ulaanbaatar Mongolia

TEXT german, english and mongolian:
Ulrike Lorenz:
– Ershuu Otgonbayar – WHITE
Dr. Ulrike Lorenz, Direktorin der Kunshalle Mannheim
Gallery Peter Zimmermann in Germany. 2015

TEXT: polski:
Wystawa malarstwa mongolskiego artysty
– Mongolski malarz Otgonbayar Ershuu wystawił w Łęczycy swoje prace
Wystawa Otgonbayara Ershuu w łęczyckim DK
Wystawa mongolskiego artysty w łęczyckim Domu Kultury
Dom Kultury w Łęczycy 2015

TEXT: english and romanian:
Monica Babuc, Tudor Zbârnea, Călin Stegerean:
– OtGO is The Winner of GRAND PRIX of The International Biennale of Painting Chisinau-2015
National Art Museum of Moldova

TEXT: german, english and mongolian:
Masterarbeit von Ariane Sauer, Universität Heidelberg - Philosophische Fakultät. Von 2014
Masterarbeitsthema:
– „Der heutige Dschingis Khan-Kult der Mongolei im Spiegel des Comics von OtGO, des mongolischen Künstlers Otgonbayar Ershuu“
“Today’s Genghis Khan cult of Mongolia in the mirror of Otgo's comic
"Өнөөгийн Монгол дахь Чингис Хаан-Культ уран бүтээлч ОТГО-н Комик номын тусгалд"

TEXT: german, english and mongolian:
Dr. Mathias Richter, Märkische Allgemeine - Zeitung am Montag, den 21.07. 2014
– FARBENTEPPICHE AUS MENSCHEN
Das Museum Baruther Glashütte zeigt Arbeiten des mongolischen Künstlers Otgonbayar Ershuu

TEXT: german:
Georg Goes:
– "HUN = Menschen" – Gemälde des mongolischen Künstlers Otgonbayar Ershuu
Museum Baruther Glashütte. von 19.07.2014

TEXT german, english and mongolian:
Martin Stather:
– Otgonbayar Ershuu – TSENHER ULAAN
Dr.Martin Stather, Leiter des Mannheimer Kunstvereins
Gallery Peter Zimmermann in Germany. 2014

TEXT: german and mongolian:
Rolf Lauter:
– Otgonbayar Ershuu
@ artlabmannheim, Mannheim, Germany 2013

TEXT: german:
Martina Busch, Galerie ZURAG Berlin
Von 2010–2012
– Otgonbayar Ershuu

TEXT: german:
Uwe Ahnert, Galerist, Collection Freudenberg AG, Freudenberg - Berlin, 2009
– Otgonbayar Ershuu

TEXT: german:
Dr. Eva Gerhards, Adelhauser Museum- Museum für Völkerkunde Freiburg Von 14.02.2007
– Otgonbayar Ershuu

TEXT: german:
Åsa Jonsén, Rezension in der Zeitung "Nerikes Allehanda"
Von 17.11.2007 (in Örebro, Schweden)
– Eine der spannendsten Ausstellungen dieses Jahres

OTGO: The WHITE

Crossing borders, moving to another culture holds the promise of freedom but also danger. Those who want to penetrate the wilderness between two worlds do so at their own risk. They will not be safe from surprises or illusions. Each step can mean failure or the chance to push forward to new horizons and insights. And this is true for both the artist and the observer.

We stand in front of canvases which become landscapes. Unknown and yet strangely familiar worlds open up in front of our eyes. Wilderness without horizons in which mysterious life enfolds. A teeming mass of figures is woven into a dense structure of multi- layered traces of colour.

What from a distance looks like a surprising, lively reincarnation of informal structures, upon closer view turns out to be a holey text at the level of post modern irony. The surface, more closely viewed, is a graphical weave of comic-like figurations in blissful innocence and holy solemnity, without the slightest hint of satire or contemporanity.

What we see here is, in the truest sense of the word, multi-layered. We see a varnished stacking of abstract colour gradations, on the one hand, and a surface entanglement, a swirling and networking of a finely engraved agglomeration of stencilled animals and human beings, on the other hand. And we see: a virtuoso interweaving of both these separate and perspective-less levels of the composition. This is far from the customary conventions of perception which we know. Abstraction and figuration do not merge, but rather, develop – separately – their full antagonism.

But instead of the pictorial universe exploding and falling apart, an unexpected huge ornament, such as never before seen, springs from the controlled contradiction on the canvas. It is visually shimmering, iconographically ambivalent. It is fascinating: this ostentatious contradictoriness between the chaos of figures and the obsessive systematic.

In short: what we see is beyond one-dimensional approaches of description and interpretation. So be careful entering unknown terrain, which so rightly arouses curiosity.

This much can be said at the beginning of our journey into the unknown: these surprising paintings are HYBRIDES. They mark an undetermined place of cultural overlap. Sociology defines hybridity as a phenomenon which arises in situations in which antagonistic thought and incompatible logics from different cultures, social or religious settings are combined as new thought and behaviour patterns. Ideally, in these situations cultural dynamic can be created. And, I might add, in such a constellation the chance of real renewal can arise.

Erschuu Orgonbayar, whose artist’s name is OtGO, was born 18 January 1981 on the outskirts of Ulaanbataars, Mongolia’s capital. He was the sixth son of Erschuu, an ordinary worker. Located between Central, North and East Asia, Mongolia, a land of steppes and half desert, is five times as large as Germany and with a population of 3 million the most sparsely populated settled independent state in the world. For thousands of years nomads lived here. They were unified into an empire for a short period of 70 years by Dschingis Khan in the 12 century. Since then the country has been under the spiritual influence of Buddhism and Lamaism, old religions which, of course, survived the Socialist People’s Republic, the second oldest after the Soviet Union.

The painter OtGO grew up with seven brothers and sisters and an adopted brother at the other end of the world. His artistic talent was evident at an early age, and OtGO studied painting at the University of the Arts in Ulaanbaatar in the 1990s. Following that, he devoted six years to the self-study of traditional Mongolian miniature painting, working from time to time as a restorer. He went straight to the sources: for two years, he travelled across Mongolia like a nomad, on foot and on horseback, by ship and by plane to the most out of the way places, to villages and monasteries. He came across many different kinds of people and lived together with his teachers. His love for his country and the religion of his ancestors is rooted in this period of time.

OtGO acquired the techniques, the iconography and knowledge of the spiritual background of Mongolian miniature painting in the Buddhist-Lamist monasteries in the traditional teacher-pupil relationship. He also began to make all the utensils for painting himself. He became a master of Thangka painting, which, for OtGO, is more philosophy than handwork. A Thangka is a scroll painting in tantric Buddhism. It is displayed in temples and home altars, and carried in processions as an object of meditation.

Using the finest of brushes and without any optical aids, OtGO painted hundreds of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and saints on the tiniest of formats: single figurations in filigree ornamentation. His mysterious backgrounds are a mixture of soot and milk schnapps, the colours are a mixture of minerals and plant pigments bound together with yak skin paste.

OtGO recreated himself anew as an artist within a defined canon. Painting became meditation without any concrete religious intention. He works, spiritually secure in the idea that the energy is transmitted through the living godhead to him, the tool.
“Thangka painting means that the spirit paints, not the hands, and like meditation thangka painting gives new energy and strength”. It is at the end, when the painter paints the eyes in the faces of his sacred figures that the godhead springs to life.

The most important basis for this painting is natural light. In Mongolia, the sun shines 300 days a year. So, Germany represented a challenge, when, following various state awards and exhibitions worldwide, Otgo moved to Germany in 2005 and began studying painting at the University of the Arts in Berlin in 2007. He received his Masters in 2010.

In this way, not only did the artist acquire knowledge of techniques, and iconography, as well as knowledge of west-European art history and contemporary art, but he also immersed himself in the discourse on painting and media, modern and post-modern. He stepped across the borders into a new world, widening his horizons without suppressing his early influences. OtGO not only worked as a painter in Germany but he was also very engaged in the artistic and intellectual exchange between Europe and his homeland. In his Zurag Gallery in Berlin, he offers a protected area where East meets West, where the awareness of Mongolian culture is promoted, and where the Mongolian ambassador has also been seen.

There is a lack of light in Germany “the sky is almost always dark”. But Germany would become the place where OtGO developed his hybrid style in the 5 years following his Master’s degree. The hybrid style in which there is no merging, no dissolution but rather the cultural encounter of two worlds: in the picture and controlled as picture.

OtGO contributes the technical virtuosity and iconographic tradition of Mongolian miniature painting, having already interpreted it contemporaneously in his own cultural homeland, to the Western tradition of a self-referential art which is focused on its own pictorial means, and which since Manet and impressionism, has taken the path towards abstraction. With the penetration of these two opposing concepts of painting OtGO has achieved a synthesis. His painting is an independent visual phenomenon. The conscious choice of the situation of hybridism, (of the overlapping of two cultures), achieved at a high artistic level, has become the doorway to something new.

It can be observed that OtGO`s ongoing development is going towards greater iconographic freedom and abstraction. The graphical teeming drama, the Kamasutra erotic has given way to a more tranquil cosmos of blissfully intertwined figures. The texture of the painting is an equal partner playing a stronger role in the realisation of the painting.

Following an intensive phase of the trend of neon-colours, pastel shades are more evident on the surface. In return, the structures of the painting have taken on gestural and experimental characteristics. The single elements of the picture increasingly disintegrate and become hybrid mix- forms, moving like waves, and in joint patterns across the homogenous surface of the painting.

And so today, we stand in front of expressive acrylic painting with filigree ink drawings on cotton canvases. Swarms of zebras accompanied by female bodies in striped costumes enfold into an op-art swirl. Colonies of penguins appear in informal textures only to disappear into an ice-blue Hades. Huge herds of horses gallop across turquoise steppes towards the evening of existence, shimmering marvellously in the light of the exhibition hall. In the triptych “white”, which gives its name to the exhibition, between snowy coloured patterns, you can observe an ornamental swirl of naked human beings and Mongolian wildlife: gazelles and wild goats, white hares and snow leopards. In this pictorial universe, the human is, quite rightly, minute. The figures, which traditionally are drawn without a magnifying glass, from a distance merge in a textile weave. In this cosmos, everything is subject to a relentless transforming movement moving through the elements like the breath of God.

Ershuu Otgonbayar has developed into a self-confident contemporary painter in a western context, who inspires the artistic development in his own country from his residence Germany. Hence, one can justifiably call him the most important contemporary Mongolian artist. In my opinion, however, he is more: a representative of an international generation of post-post-modern painters. He has set off an impulse of renewal within contemporary post-medial painting. An impulse which causes the levels of illustration and meaning to permeate each other while they are telescoped. We experience a picturesque language, which is complex, expressive and original – a masterpiece, which enchants and amazes us.

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Mongolian Painter OtGO
It is the spirit that is painting

Der Tagesspiegel - newspaper on Friday, October 5, 2018

The Mongolian painter Otgo creates broadband-paintings, ranging between the genre of miniature painting and comics. He invites visitors to his open studio in Köpenick on Saturday.

by Birgit Rieger

Ershuu Otgonbayar’s pictures are detail and abstraction at the same time. When standing close to the canvas, one can behold herds of zebras, gazelles and tigers as well as male and female shapes, whose bodies are stretched, lying underneath and on top of each other, at times devouring each other. Keeping at a distance, the individual pictorial elements unite to abstract textures. Thousands of figures are bustling on these canvasses, which at times are more than six metres long. The artist Ershuu Otgonbayar, originally from Mongolia, has given himself the artist’s name Otgo and is currently showing his broadband paintings ranging between traditional miniature painting and comics in his studio located in Köpenick.

The room is large, with an impressive window-front, which is several meters high and faces the Wendenschloßstraße. It used to house a yacht center. Now and then it happens in Berlin that painters display their pictures on their own at their studios. It is even less common to present unfinished paintings on such occasions. Almost every painter tends to play their cards close to their chest. However, for Otgonbayar Ershuu, born in 1981, the path is as valid as the finished painting. One of the works features the bodies of animals, which have not been painted in yet. Otgo says that he endows the animals with their spirit when his fine pencil bestows whiskers and eyes or draws stripes in the fur of the leopard.

Self-instruction in miniature painting
He gets up at four o’clock in the morning and starts painting at dusk to use the energy of the youthful day. He needs quietness, no people around him. Whoever feels reminded of the daily life of Buddhist monasteries isn’t that far off. Ershuu, who grew up on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar has internalized Buddhist instructions – with the exception of considering religions as too conservative and having become a Berliner through and through.
Otgo studied painting in his hometown, after which he focused on teaching himself Mongolian miniature painting for seven years and was trained by monks. Thangka-Painting displays Buddhas, Lamas and protective divinities according to very strict formal rules. Otgo came to the conclusion that he would never attain the same mastery the early Thangka-painters had reached. This was because he had been born in different times facing different challenges. He left for Berlin in 2005 to complete his master’s degree at the Institute for Art in Context at the Berlin University of the Arts. He wanted to study how the art scene works. He didn’t paint at all for some years and instead looked at art in museums and exhibition centers, opened a Mongolian center for culture, where he displayed international art. In the end he found himself disappointed with the dominant, western influenced perception of art history. In his studio and in his pictures he now merges western and eastern styles of painting and thinking. In the first place, his paintings are a philosophy of life.

The spirit has to paint, not the hands and not the mind. This is what the monks in the monastery had taught him. Otgo’s paintings consist of congealed paint and finger prints, but most of all of countless fine lines; every streak, which has been set, remains – as contour of an animal’s body, arms, legs, plants. To paint a line is like breathing the artist explains. Inhaling and exhaling as alternative to the flustered comments to each message we receive. To Otgo bending over the canvas with his brush or pencil is like meditation. In contemplation the mind can also rest and the spirit can attain awareness.

Translation by Elisa Kohl-Garrity

Source: Der Tagesspiegel - newspaper on Friday, October 5, 2018
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/mongolischer-maler-otgo-es-ist-der-geist-der-zeichnet/23148932.html

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Dr. Mathias Richter
COLORFUL PATCHES OF HUMANS
Museum Baruther Glashütte exhibits works by the Mongolian artist Otgonbayar Ershuu
Source: Märkische Allgemeine – Monday Newspaper, 21st of July 2014

(Translation by Elisa Kohl-Garrity)

Baruth – The sheer space of the painting is overwhelming. The colorful painting is over six meters long and two meters in height. It starts glistening with every step of the onlooker. The numerous small pixel-like points start moving. Areas and Contours start to surface, whereas other move to the background. Only when the picture is approached closely it becomes clear what is really depicted: Occasionally animals inbetween a wild jumble of humans, humans, humans – depicted in a filigree manner of acrylic on canvas.

The painting is called “Hun” which is simultaneously the name of the small exhibition by the miniature painter Otgonbayar Ershuu, who has given himself the artist’s name of OtGO. The exhibition was opened at the museum Baruther-Glashütte in Teltow-Fläming. Hun denotes “human” in English and stands at the center of attention in OtGO’s works. Delicately painted they wander across the huge painting; in fact so minutely that you almost need a magnifying glass to see the details. The human depicted as midget in a cosmos in which he appears on a massive scale leaving almost no room for other beings. Those few animals which do appear between thousands of humans on this huge scroll painting are driven to the back of the painting. However, Homo sapiens likewise appears naked and displayed in all his vulnerability - swarm of bodies loving, arguing, hating, fighting and acknowledging each other.

OtGO’s works can indeed be understood as civilizational critique from the perspective of a partially preindustrial world. The Baruther exhibition displays 7 rather different creations by the artist OtGO who has been living in Berlin since 2005. A recently created quadripartite cycle of acrylic paintings stands beside this work of gigantic dimensions. Humans and animals appear in neon-colored contours on a dark background behind large-scale cross-hatchings. Despite its glaringly modern coloration the painting is reminiscent of traditional patches of color.

In General tradition is the pool from which the artist born in the Mongolian Capital Ulan-Bator in 1981draws and creates. He started with the classical miniature paintings of his home country, so called Thangkas, tiny depictions of the gods of lamaist-buddhist religion. The depictions on cotton approximately the size of a diapositive are drawn and colored without any optic aids. The final work step consists of painting the face by which the eyes of the deity are ritually opened.

OtGO has divested this technique of painting from its religious background and is henceforth creating impressive creations of contemporary art. Three of his miniature paintings from the late 1990s can be seen in Baruth. They have been applied to the outer walls of a small cabinet. Inside, behind glass, lies a very special creation by the artist: A Kamasutra-painting tempera on cotton of only 30 to 20 centimeters. It depicts the erotic activities of 1200 people – barely visible to the unaided eye. But the artist has aided the dull European eye with a magnifying glass.

Hun=Humans. Painting by Otgonbayar Ershuu. Until August 31st. Museumsdorft Baruther Glashütte, Hüttenweg 20, Baruth/Mark.

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Urner Wochenblatt | 147ème année | N° 61 | Samedi 5 août 2023

Suivre la force intérieure de la peinture

Elles s'appellent «GÖSCHENER ZYKLUS»: cinq grandes peintures (acrylique sur toile) aux dimensions identiques de 180 x 130 centimètres. Devant celles-ci, tel un portail, se dressent deux tableaux également de taille identique (171 x 44,5 centimètres, acrylique sur bois). L'artiste les a nommés «Uritür» », soit « porte d’Uri ». Otgonbayar Ershuu, ou plutôt OtGO, comme il se fait appeler en abrégé, a réalisé les sept œuvres en seulement deux mois, alors qu'il était invité en tant qu’ « artiste en résidence » au Kunstdepot (dépôt d’art) de Göschenen (Kunstdepot Göschenen). Ce n'était pas le premier séjour dans le canton d'Uri de cet homme ouvert d’esprit de Berlin. Il s’y sent bien et apprécie surtout la proximité avec la nature originelle, à laquelle il se sent profondément lié depuis son enfance et sa jeunesse dans sa Mongolie natale. Elle lui procure la force et la sérénité intérieure dont le bouddhiste a besoin pour ses peintures miniatures, pour créer en se reposant entièrement sur son for intérieur un monde intensément coloré aux milles personnages, animaux et motifs délicats.

Göschenen | L'artiste mongol OtGO a créé pendant deux mois dans le dépôt d'art cinq imposantes peintures "Otgöschenen" | Franka Kruse
Derrière la « porte d’Uri » (« Uritür »), le monde s'ouvre dans le maquis de la peinture miniature.
Traduction de l'allemand vers le françai: Caroline Girod

Lui-même le nomme la «cathédrale Otgöschenen», ce que l'on comprend en entrant dans son atelier temporaire au Kunstdepot de Göschenen où une sensation nous prend dès la première vue de se trouver face à quelque chose de majestueux. Le haut pignon du toit de l’ancien arsenal à la sortie du village confère effectivement des allures de grande nef à l’espace dans lequel la dernière œuvre de l’artiste mongol OtGO a pris vie en deux mois seulement, du 1er mai au 30 juin. Ici, les cinq toiles de sa série « Otgöschenen » sont suspendues côte-à-côte de telle sorte qu’elles forment avec les deux tableaux latéraux «Uritür» une sorte d'espace dans l'espace.
Le peintre mongol Otgonbayar Ershuu aime jouer avec les mots et les lettres. Ainsi, de son nom d'artiste Otgo est devenu OtGO, ce qui lui donne en guise de clin d’œil à sa passion pour la marche une force d’expression supplémentaire ; de la pieuvre, l'octopus, qui traverse régulièrement ses tableaux comme en essaims, il en fait un « OtGOpus » – et de Otgo à Göschenen devient justement «Otgöschenen»: cinq peintures acryliques sur toile aux dimensions exactement identiques de 180 x 130 centimètres.

Profondément lié à la nature
Le Berlinois d'adoption se sent visiblement bien à Uri. Ce n'est pas son premier séjour ici. Il y a un an exactement, il s'est rapidement fait connaître avec son attitude ouverte et communicative à et par Andermatt. Les galeristes Heidi et Franz Leupi avaient invité OtGO en juin 2022 pour un mois d'atelier ouvert à la galerie Art87 C'est là que le collectionneur d'art Christoph Hürlimann l'a repéré, lui qui utilise non seulement le Kunstdepot de Göschenen comme un endroit fixe pour exposer des œuvres de sa collection, mais aussi comme un lieu d’accueil qui offre l’opportunité à des artistes du monde entier de travailler dans les montagnes d'Uri pendant les mois d'été grâce à la fondation privée Kunstdepot.

Lui-même le nomme la «cathédrale Otgöschenen», ce que l'on comprend en entrant dans son atelier temporaire au Kunstdepot de Göschenen où une sensation nous prend dès la première vue de se trouver face à quelque chose de majestueux. Le haut pignon du toit de l’ancien arsenal à la sortie du village confère effectivement des allures de grande nef à l’espace dans lequel la dernière œuvre de l’artiste mongol OtGO a pris vie en deux mois seulement, du 1er mai au 30 juin. Ici, les cinq toiles de sa série « Otgöschenen » sont suspendues côte-à-côte de telle sorte qu’elles forment avec les deux tableaux latéraux «Uritür» une sorte d'espace dans l'espace.
Le peintre mongol Otgonbayar Ershuu aime jouer avec les mots et les lettres. Ainsi, de son nom d'artiste Otgo est devenu OtGO, ce qui lui donne en guise de clin d’œil à sa passion pour la marche une force d’expression supplémentaire ; de la pieuvre, l'octopus, qui traverse régulièrement ses tableaux comme en essaims, il en fait un « OtGOpus » – et de Otgo à Göschenen devient justement «Otgöschenen»: cinq peintures acryliques sur toile aux dimensions exactement identiques de 180 x 130 centimètres.

Profondément lié à la nature
Le Berlinois d'adoption se sent visiblement bien à Uri. Ce n'est pas son premier séjour ici. Il y a un an exactement, il s'est rapidement fait connaître avec son attitude ouverte et communicative à et par Andermatt. Les galeristes Heidi et Franz Leupi avaient invité OtGO en juin 2022 pour un mois d'atelier ouvert à la galerie Art87 C'est là que le collectionneur d'art Christoph Hürlimann l'a repéré, lui qui utilise non seulement le Kunstdepot de Göschenen comme un endroit fixe pour exposer des œuvres de sa collection, mais aussi comme un lieu d’accueil qui offre l’opportunité à des artistes du monde entier de travailler dans les montagnes d'Uri pendant les mois d'été grâce à la fondation privée Kunstdepot.

Les images racontent des histoires
Pour lui, la méditation n'a rien à voir avec la conception contemporaine de gestion du stress, mais plutôt avec l’expérience profonde et consciente de l'inconscient qui mène à l'éveil (Bouddha signifie « l'Éveillé »). « En mongol, méditer signifie réfléchir profondément et c'est quelque chose de philosophique », explique OtGO. Mais la réflexion sur ce que ses tableaux expriment ne vient qu'après avoir peint. C'est alors qu'il voit soudainement ce qui a travaillé à l’intérieur de lui. Et soudain c’est là qu’on reconnaît par exemple des bombes en miniature qui pleuvent du ciel à côté d’innombrables petites moitiés de porc suspendues. Pour l'artiste, il s'agit d'une assimilation de thèmes tels que la guerre en Ukraine, l'élevage intensif et la consommation excessive de viande. « Chacun peut lire dans les images les histoires qu'il associe à sa propre réflexion », souligne OtGO. Il souhaite délibérément ne pas prescrire d'interprétation. Sur l'une des toiles Otgöschenen, la forêt dans laquelle OtGO a passé de si nombreuses heures pendant son séjour en tant qu’hôte est clairement reconnaissable. Sa profonde connexion avec la nature dans laquelle il trouve le calme et puise sa force. Une paix et une force intérieures qui lui font ressentir deux mois aussi intensément que s'il avait vécu deux ans à Göschenen. C'est pourquoi il lui est possible de créer en huit semaines seulement une série de tableaux, qui, pris individuellement, semblent nécessiter deux ans de travail. OtGO et Uri semblent aussi avoir un lien particulier. Il reviendrait sans hésiter. « Si ma famille le permet », dit le père de deux enfants en riant à nouveau.

OtGO Otgonbayar Ershuu English German Mongolian Contact