SIGNATURE ART PRIZE | 2008

Dorjderem.D is one of the few artists in Mongolia who experiments with conceptual media, including large, open-air installations. His conceptual sculpture “The Voice in the Space” demonstrates the potential of Mongolia's new generation of young artists, who prefer unconventional expression to traditional themes. The Voice in the Space consists of three pieces- two similar, but not identical parts and a central image enclosed inside and outside of a wooden box. The ideas that the artist explores are connected to the roots of human life-the state of an embryo in a mother's womb - and a critique of society as circumscribed, limited, and negative. Each message is expressed in unique imagery: the embryo's development is illustrated in a succession of images of a baby's torso placed inside of a ram's horns, while a dark, fearsome mask appears inside of a small wooden box with its door wide open, where another horn stands. Dorjderem's use of genuine Mongolian materials, such as leather, skin, and horn is challenging. The artist successfully takes advantage of the natural texture, shape, and flexibility of these materials. Although Mongols are renowned for their strong ties to and intimate knowledge of nature, the innovative use of organic substances is not popular in Mongolian modern art. In “The Voice in the Space” the horn, impressive as a layered texture, possesses an illusory soft quality and starkly symbolizes the umbilical cord connecting the baby and mother. On the other hand, while the baby is made of an artificial stone- the only chemical substance in the sculpture-together with the horn, they seem to symbolise a human interaction with nature, and human's conception of a new life in its own right, wrapped up in its own skin. The mask, made of papier-mâché, constitutes the central piece and symbolises dark reality. Its hollow eyes convey powerful omnipresence. The mask- that is, the exterior world-is frightening, as indeed it appears to a new-born baby. The & 'world' is enclosed in, and restricted to, a rather small, narrow box with only one opening: one may enter it, but there is no apparent escape route. This work starkly portrays the limitations on our existential experience and the boundaries enclosing all human life. Dorjderem eloquently engaged these problems in a fresh and novel
way.

Nominator Orna Uranchimeg - Tsultem

CHANGWON SCULPTURE BIENNIAL | 2014

“Waiting for the End” portrays his grandmother, who passed away, when the artist was 7. But he carries vivid memories about his grandmother, who did not fear facing death. She was aware of it and prepared; passed away in complete peace next to her grandson. He sculpted the figure of his enlightened grandmother, who lived full of compassion and love. In her flexuous old face,
one can discover wisdom, feeling of completeness and satisfaction and the mind, freed from worries and attachments. Her slightly turned aside, contemplative face, suggests, as if she is waiting for something, could be the signal of death. Lined horns on her head don’t pass a sense of alienation; they are in complete harmony with her wrinkled face and old body and look unexpectedly natural and real. The sculpture is part of his exhibition “Space with No Trace”, where the artist questioned the essence of human freedom; showed special moments and stages of a life, where people experience a deeper sense of freedom. In his exhibition “Space with No Trace”, the artist questioned the essence of human freedom. Through his works, the artist shows special moments and stages of a life, where people experience freedom. “An Opposite Freedom” depicts his father, wrapped in felt and tied by ropes, in a way how Mongolians traditionally punished naughty people. His ‘free-willed’ father was indeed a naughty person. But, difficulties caused by him introduced the artist to different parameters of life and helped in shaping his own view. In this work, the artist created ‘his ideal father’, who finally deserted lust, cruelty and ego and came to the peace. Through this persona, the artist wants to speak about the beauty of aging and maturity. Once your mind is cleansed from the lust,obsession, possessiveness and hostility, you liberate yourself from dependencies and achieve the deeper sense of freedom. A man with a divine face reminds us of a peaceful and majestic nature, whose horns symbolize life span and history. In “Human and Nature”, the artist depicted his wife. Her goddess-like, big-horned surreal figure represents the universe of a mother and child, utterly connected through love. A woman experiences a moment of joy, by being alienated from secular society; herself being liberated from anxieties and dependencies. The figure reminds us of pristine nature and conveys the feeling of a serenity and contentment. A human-being can achieve a freedom, through the infinite feeling of love and happiness.

GANTUYA Badamgarav

THE VOICE IN THE SPACE | 2006

This work is about the life of the fetus in the womb, from the moment of its conception until it is given birth. Although the fetus is contained in the small space of the womb, I think that its consciousness exists in a larger space and the nine months spent in the mother's womb equals a lifetime. The baby about to be born thus exists in a peripheral space, preparing to leap from the life in the womb to life in our world. The layers of the horn symbolise the life stages of the fetus. They represent the various voices that the fetus hears and interacts with it as it grows. The voices get louder and louder as the layers get bigger and bigger. Since the fetus is god-like, existing in its own universe in its natural state, it can hear internal voices that men cannot hear. The baby in the box is the focal point of the work. The box is our universe, which the baby is about to enter. I've used a box to represent the external universe because I think that men are bound by space, we are restricted by space and we are dependent on space. Thus, the box is the door to our world. When the baby enters this door, it loses its god-like character. I think that man's life in the mother's womb, the pre-birth life, is the freest, most tranquil existence man can ever achieve.

Davaa Dorjderem
People choice award, Signature Art Prize | 2008