Gairat Baimatov - Born in Uzbekistan.
I spent my childhood and youth in an old Uzbek quarter of Tashkent.
Back in the 1960s, that was a cosmopolitan city and our street was no exception.

My future artistic expression was greatly influenced by mingling with people of various nationalities. My schooling was done at the Benkov College of Arts in Tashkent and then at the Institute of Arts and Industry in Kharkov.
Although I attended many professors’ classes, it was Boris Tokmin to whom I looked up most. I have up to this moment preserved a profound gratitude to this man. Also, of considerable significance in my development were my creative tours around the USSR and beyond its borders, of which, perhaps, the most noteworthy was to the ICAT gallery in Belgium. Membership in the Union of Artists of the USSR was granted in 1980, and 1989 saw me as an Honoured Arts Worker of Uzbekistan.