Al Paldrok (1969, Tallinn), tuntud ka kui Anonymous Boh, on Eesti performance-kunstnik, skulptor, graafik ja video-kunstnik ning rahvusvahelise performance-grupi Non Grata juhtfiguur. Al Paldrok on olnud kunstikõrgkooli Academia Non Grata asutaja ja prorektor, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia professor ja EKA Pärnu Kolledži juht. Ta korraldab aktiivselt rahvusvahelisi interdistsiplinaarseid festivale ja peab kunsti loenguid ja töötubasid ülikoolides ja kunstiorganisatsioonides üle maailma. Paldroki tegevus on pälvinud tähelepanu julge ja kompromissitu lähenemisega, mis seab kahtluse alla ühiskonna traditsioonilised normid. Vaatajaid mugavustsoonist välja raputavad performance‘id oma hullumeelsuses jätavad publiku hämmingusse, astudes üle igasuguste ühiskondlike tavade ja mängides tihtipeale ohtlikkuse piirimail, kus õhku jääb kogu ühiskonnakorralduse turvalisuse küsimus. Intervjuudes ja ülevaadetes kirjeldatakse teda kui ettearvamatut niiditõmbajat, kes ei karda seista vastu institutsionaalsetele ja ühiskondlikele normidele.
“Al Paldrok alias Anonymous Boh, via non-stop world tours, performances, exhibitions, and publications, has created one of the most representative, significant, timely and transformative art movements in all of history. As Ring Master, Paldrok has become the Wild Bill Hickok, the P.T. Barnum, the Alfred Jarry, the Tristan Tzara, the Ezra Pound, the Orson Welles of our Era. We have entered The Apocalypse, The Storm. Boh, implementing all The Arts via NON GRATA’S Diverse Universe global performances, reveals to us not only where we presently stand in The Storm but he also conjures visions of our soon to be realized post apocalyptic absurdly playfully tormented kaleidoscopic landscapes. – Ron Whitehead, Outlaw Poet
“Al is a grizzly bear with a chain saw in a jack in the box. As dangerous and amusing as that sounds, he’s unpredictable, boundless and one step ahead of all who surround him. His stories are real, his madness is real. Just grab hold and enjoy the ride, this journey has many twists and turns and sometimes there are no roads.” – Andy Cook, Musician and publisher
By obtaining its reputation as an alternative, Boh, has swooped onto the global art landscape without looking back. Performances, art tours organized in tens of cities across Europe, Asia and America have turned the notoriously alternative Non Grata into a creative collective who are much better known elsewhere than in Estonia. Their experience is not a subject much talked about, although artistic activity transcending boundaries of art and countries is today’s artist’s most desirable self- realization. Estonian Anonymous Boh (Al Paldrok) has been active from 1992 on a frameless territory where an art object has seized to exist as a physical piece. The space has many dimensions upon which the activity has been built. Running the performance group Non Grata actually means creating a certain kind of school, Art of The Invisibles, which can be characterized by features as structured chaos, performances in arbitrary environments and interiors. – Raivo Kelomees