What is in Magic Box:
Dopamine, Duality and Vulnerability
Curatorial Essay by Dr Tsendpurev Tsegmid
The eclectic art exhibition Magic Box (2024.03.24–04.04, Mongol Art Gallery) is a visual constellation of Zolbootuguldur Orgil’s continuing creative exploration of human fragility. The artist focuses on dopamine and its impact on the mind, behaviour, and body. Through a series of paintings and drawings depicting predominantly women in various states of emotional turmoil, the artist dives into the complexities of addiction, depression, and the cyclical nature of mood fluctuations dependent on the rise and the fall of the “feel-good” neurotransmitter.
The artist’s struggles with depression serve as a backdrop for the exhibition as she channels her personal experiences into her art. The paintings and drawings express a deep sense of introspection, capturing the internal conflicts of the subjects as they grapple with their situation. The exhibition’s central theme is the paradox of seeking dopamine while experiencing the vulnerability of the raw emotions that come with it. We need it to feel good. We cannot lack it, and an excess sends us to a state we cannot control. How do we deal with this, manage it, or balance it, if possible?
Zolbootuguldur’s comments on this process:
Our daily activities aim to produce dopamine by lifting our spirits, making us proud and provoking our animal instincts. These acts appear very cultured and sophisticated: taking selfies while eating out with friends, creating content, trying to appear pretty and rich, etc. If we look beyond superficial, our actions are based on feelings of inferiority and superiority, and we must fill this gap by producing dopamine. These desperate desires are unstable and always come back with punches. Many businesses exist solely to satisfy our dopamine craving.
The artist is constantly in a dual position. On one hand, she is the vehicle of all these feelings induced by fluctuating levels of chemicals within her physical body. On the other hand, she has to critically assess what is happening inside her mind, contextualise them, and visualise them in paintings and drawings. These tensions between her emotional mind and the critical mind are more visible in her paintings Бүрэлдэх тогтолцоо/The System of Becoming (2024), Допаминий уналт I/The Fall of Dopamine I (2022), Допаминий уналт II/The Fall of Dopamine II (2023) and Сонголт/Choice (2024).
Бүрэлдэх тогтолцоо/The System of Becoming (2024) portrays three young women standing next to each other engaged in distinct activities, yet they appear strangely similar in appearance. Indeed, there are three versions or components of one person. The women’s facial expressions are calm, with subtle emotional variations. It is common for humans to have multiple identities, and we strive to inhabit each one uniquely, much like balancing multiple balls.
In Magic Box (2023), you see a trendy young woman enjoying a drink with one eye shut. She could also be a purely constructed artificial humanoid decorated with cut-out photographs of eyes, bodies, faces, and two skull images. Yet still, she manages to look “great” with her hands placed carefully, mirroring the iconic photograph of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), albeit a very twisted version.
In the end, isn’t looking great the whole point of existence in this appearance-obsessed society? What goes underneath the skin doesn’t matter; the skin must look flawless even if the mind is disintegrating.
Zolbootuguldur’s creative training started early with her artist, art historian and art teacher mother, Odkhuu Sengee (1956–2009, Mongolia), who studied Graphic Arts (1972–1974) at the Institute of Fine Arts in Ulaanbaatar and later Art History at the Ilya Yefimovich Repin Academy of Fine Arts (1975–1980) in Saint Petersburg. According to Zolbootuguldur, her mother told her Russian folk tales, drew, painted, ran after-school art classes for children and prepared future artists. Despite living 500 km from the capital to expand her daughter’s mind, she often took her to urban centres for exhibitions and museums.
Zolbootuguldur studied Mongol Zurag, or Mongolian Traditional Painting, for five years (Bachelor of Fine Art) before she relocated to Torun, Poland, to study at The School of Fine Arts and Renovation at Nicolaus Copernicus University. There, she studied Chemistry, World Art History, Material Research in Art, Painting, Drawing, Ceramics, Sculpture, and Polish Art History for two years. According to her, her painting style changed because of this experience, and she stopped accentuating the lines, one of the defining features of Mongol Zurag. This added to her already exciting mix of influences, starting from Persian miniature painting, Japanese graphic art, Hieronymus Bosch (1450–1516, Netherlands), Zdenek Janda (b.1953, Czechia), Zdzislaw Beksisnki (1929–2005, Poland), Krzysztof Heksel (b.1982, Poland), Enkhjargal Tsagaandari (b.1960, Mongolia), Oilan Janatkhaan (b.1971, Mongolia), Mauricio Catalan (b.1960, Italy), Baatarzorig Batjargal (b.1983, Mongolia), Yayoi Kusama (b.1929, Japan), Yoko Ono (b.1933, Japan).
As a curator-mentor, I was invited to contribute to the exhibition-making process in November 2023. Most of the artworks were finished as Zolbootuguldur was nearing the last stages of the exhibition. My role was contextualising the concept, supporting her exhibition design process, and writing the curatorial text. However, our partnership turned into a creative collaboration where we began to bounce off each other’s ideas, and the artist began to reflect and act on this process. Her open-mindedness for my critical feedback and ability to change gears quickly contributed to the creation of Depression Diary (2024), a series of digital drawings.
I can’t stop drawing this series. I am even surprised I could draw like this, the artist said excitedly. This shows her ability to transcend her feelings and be stubborn enough to refuse to give in. For her, art is her lighthouse at the edges of the turbulent dark sea. Whatever happens in her life, she finds courage, hope, and the desire to continue her art.
In her artistic direction, Zolbootuguldur is at the intersection of her past, present, and future. The exhibition conveys a healthy dose of chaos, tension, and uncertainty, as it should for an artist striving to find her authentic voice. The creation process becomes a form of therapy and self-discovery, allowing her to break free from the shackles of her past, find meaning in life, and look toward a future.
What’s in the Magic Box, you might ask again. You must come and see; use your magic box to discover further!
Dr Tsendpurev Tsegmid
2024.03.18
Münster, Federal Republic of Germany
©2024, Tsendpurev Tsegmid. All rights reserved. Please do not copy or republish on a different platform without the author’s permission.
