Being in Cosmos: Sergei Dykov’s Visual Exploration of the Spirit of Altai

Abstract

This article focuses on how shamanism and animism, two important features of Altaic ontology, can be expressed in art. This is discussed by exploring the art of Sergei Dykov, a contemporary Altaic (south Siberian) visual artist, whose art is part of a wider trend in modern Siberian art of rediscovering the conceptual potentials of indigenous Siberian values. Dykov is one of those artists whose fascination with Siberian culture is not limited to formal inspirations but who also seeks how to express these indigenous values in contemporary art forms. Drawing on Altaic folklore, its myths and beliefs, including shamanism, as well as ancient Siberian art forms, Dykov searches for a new visual language capable of expressing the Altaic perception of the world. For him, therefore, painting is significantly an intellectual project involving an attempt to understand the indigenous ontology of being in the world. The key concepts around which his art revolves are thus human-animal transformations, human and non-human beings’ relations, and the interconnectedness of the visible and nonvisible. The study was based on an analysis of a sample of his unpublished artworks.