Place:
Antiguo Cuartel de Artillería, Pabellón 2
Visual Poetry
Babi Badalov is a traveler, a forced nomad originally from Azerbaijan.
At the moment he is living illegally without papers, somewhere in
Europe. His visual poetry appears in the form of diary-dense drawings
and collages, combining artistic-linguistic research and commentary
on manipulated media imagery. The horror vacui drawings
in Manifesta 8 comment on the everyday on a micro scale - including
art, personal politics, the status of the immigrant, experiences with
homophobia - and on a macro political level.
1959, born in Lerik, Azerbaijan
Babi Badalov artist, poet
live and working in Paris
after graduated art college in his native country left to Saint Peterburg (Russia) where he begin exhibited from graphic works, painting installation performances and become one of leading figure Saint Peterburg underground art scene
My later works "art poetry" or "visual poetry" based on my personal life on
topology language
nomad language
about how one can be victim of language.
Crossing borders,
changing countries,
new language, new societies, adaptions
constantly missing fully speak in one language.
My art project VISUAL POETRY is expressing myself in the same time several languages
visual confusion between Cyrillic Latin alphabet.
an autobiography as you conceive it-
I cant never grow
to become like man 50 years old
i am still boy with feeling 50 year old my father
i still speak in my first language
my mother language
i stil speak my second language
my father language
I was 15 old boy
after school in my small town
Lerik by iranian border
i went for first time 400km far
to Baku - capital Azerbaijan
i entered state art college
it was Soviet Time
so many police eyes so many undercover KGB eyes
i was so afraid walk on street in capital city
more afraid when i take metro
i have terrible memories of that time
almost no happy one
after art college i was taken to Red Army
from 1978 - 80
it was near Moscow
i have terrible memories of that time
which makes me always cry until now
i was beaten many time
because because because
even armenian soldiers beat me
because because because
that time we was all together USSR
Caucasus region was
Armenia SSR , Azerbaijan SSR, Georgia SSR
after Red Army I went to Leningrad
to make art like Picasso Jackson Pollock and Andy Warholl
I remember they teach us how to hate Andy Warholl
How to hate Sex Pistolz american capitalism
soviet newspapers write about
demonstrations unemployment's homeless in the the New York streets
in Leningrad i work hard work same time i become underground artist
and i joined noncorformizm movement in art
my first exhibition in 1985 didnt opened
because KGB didnt excepted some art works
when USSR crushed down by Perestroika
all artists life change and my life change also
i feel more free more happy
my first travel was to Poland
my second travel to my exhibition Budapest National Gallerie Mucharnok
my third travel to Germany Muenster for 2 month
my fourth travel to America to my group exhibition
"What Its Forbidden Its Allowed"
after all travel i confuse of too much seeing
since that time i live nomad life
i live in Paris with limited life and limited travel
while i speak talysh, azeri, russian, english learning french
i want to be EU citizen very much
i promise to deserve it...
