Mongolian Contemporary Art Exhibition Opens in Milan

The Pool NYC gallery in Milan presents 'Towards East. Emerging Artists from Mongolia,' a group show curated by Maurizio Bortolotti featuring five Mongolian artists. The exhibition explores Mongolia's cultural transformation since its 1992 democratic transition, caught between Russian autocracy and Chinese communism. Works blend Global Conceptualism with Buddhist Thangka painting, cartoon and manga influences, and traditional nomadic motifs. Nomin Bold's crocheted gas masks critique Ulaanbaatar's severe air pollution, using traditional weaving techniques with recycled metal. Dolgor Serod's paintings, like 'Vita mongola,' adapt centuries-old compositional schemes depicting nomadic life, including the ger tent, ancestor altars, and segregated spaces. Esunge's albumin-print photographs capture the tension between Mongolia's 800,000 nomadic inhabitants and urban sedentarization, with traditional gers pushed to city outskirts. Baatarzorig Batjargal's epic battle scenes mix mythological warriors with Soviet references. Munkhjargal Munkhuu, the youngest artist, incorporates manga, Rubik's Cubes, and KFC buckets into crowded allegorical paintings critiquing Americanization and societal complexity.