Rossi & Rossi is delighted to present Seasons showcasing works by Kazakh artist Erbossyn Meldibekov (b. 1964). Curated by Sara Raza, this presentation marks the artist’s third solo exhibition with Rossi & Rossi as well as the ten-year anniversary of the gallery’s engagement with both Meldibekov and Raza. Under the allegorical theme of ‘seasons’, the exhibition explores the artist’s ongoing inquiry into post-Soviet looping cycles of unprogressive political and social nostalgia associated with the terrain of Central Asiafollowing its 1991 independence from Soviet imperialism.

Through his creative response to a changing and divided society, Meldibekov has earned a reputation as one of the region’s most esteemed artists. With his wry sense of humour and playful approach to politically engaged artworks, he investigates both real and imaginary spaces and places associated with the former USSR and its neighbouring regions. He articulates these realms through diverse media, including installation, painting, sculpture, works on paper and video.

One of the core themes of Seasonsis architecture, both in its formal and informal capacities, which resonates ideologically through several works like a live current. The artist’s hand thus functions as a tool to resolve leftover Soviet imperial remnants. Central to the exhibition is the eponymous work Seasons(2017), which consists of ten postcards and ten paintings of ten monuments – shown in the seasonal colors of spring, summer, autumn and winter – that were erected in Amir Timur Square in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, over a 100-year period. To date, the public square has featured monuments dedicated to Lenin, Stalin and Konstantin von Kaufmann (the first governor-general of Turkestan), and is now home to a monument of fourteenth-century Central Asian hero Amir Timur (Tamerlane).

‍