Arystanbek Shalbayev is an interdisciplinary artist from Kazakhstan and a member of the Shymkent avant-garde art group Kyzyl Tractor. Shalbayev’s work demonstrates a sharp critical view on the nation’s social climate in the age of rampant capitalism and globalisation. His practice often develops a series of simultaneous pieces that references specific social and/or political issues; these are best exemplified in the series of graphic collages collectively named ‘Tunnel Vision’, together with the series of acrylic paintings ‘Matches-Barrels’.  These works reveal the country’s destructive course of a natural resources-driven economy, wealth inequality and a fear-ridden society.