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SEMBIGALI
by Sembigali Smagulov
The FORTE KULANSHI ART SPACE opens in 2026 with a solo exhibition by Sembigali Smagulov, showcasing his paintings, graphics, and sculptures. Smagulov’s works - powerful, original, and deeply rooted in culture - combine form, temperament, and meaning to create a striking, direct artistic experience.
About the Artist
Sembigali Smagulov Abzalbekuly is a renowned Kazakhstani artist, the author of the “Қазақ Елі” monument, and an educator. He was born in 1963 in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan. In 1984, he graduated from the Alma-Ata Art College, and in 1992 — from the Department of Monumental and Decorative Painting at the Almaty State Institute of Theatre and Art named after T. Zhurgenov.
Curator's Note
Sembigali Smagulov's art is impossible to confuse with anything else: it sounds powerful and free, like the voice of the steppe, like an affirmation of the national spirit transformed into the language of modernity. His works are an internally tormented and vividly expressed plastic philosophy. Each canvas serves as a manifesto of an artist deeply rooted in culture, yet uncompromisingly pursuing his own path. It is precisely in this confident originality, in the ability to combine form, temperament, and meaning, that an artistic power is born which requires no interpretation; it acts directly, through the energy of the image. LEYLA MAHAT,THE CHAIRPERSON OF CURATORIAL COUNCIL, «KULANSHI ART CENTER», CURATOR OF THE EXHIBITION