Dashi Namdakov

Born in the village of Ukurik, Khiloksky District, Chita Region in 1967

Graduated in 1992 from the Krasnoyarsk State Art Institute, where he studied under the artists and sculptors Lev Golovnitsky, Yury Ishkhanov, Azat Bayarlin and Eduard Pakhomov.

Sculptor, graphic artist, jeweller and designer. Full member of the Russian Academy of Arts (2021). Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation (2020), member of the Artists’ Union of Russia. Recipient of the Government of the Russian Federation’s prize in the sphere of culture (2009). Chief Artist of the Main Church of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Dashi’s family belongs to an ancient line of skilled metalworkers (darkhans) that produced the finest jewellers, craftsmen and artists.

Dashi Namdakov’s sculptures, jewellery, graphic art and tapestries have a strikingly unique and distinctive style founded upon elements of ethnic culture, the traditions of Central Asia and Buddhist motifs. Working from Sashi’s designs, members of his family make dolls in the form of sculptures in stylized national dress. The artist’s works can be found in the stocks of the State Hermitage and Russian Ethnographic Museum in Saint Petersburg, the Museum of Oriental Art and Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, as well as museums and private collections in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, Japan, the USA and Taiwan.

In 2007 Dashi Namdakov acted as production designer for the director Sergei Bodrov’s film Mongol. For his work on that picture, Namdakov received a Nika award in the Best Production Designer category and a White Elephant award from the Russian Guild of Film Critics. The artist is also the creator of a number of monumental sculptures that have been installed in cities in Russia and beyond.