ILIA BALAVADZE - A PORTAL TO THE UNIVERSE

A universe diverse and colorful, with myriad attitudes, colors, characters, and meanings.
The works by artist Ilia Balavadze are dissimilar enough to mislead even a practiced eye to question their ownership by one author.
The stories told in series draw on concrete inspirations that remain with the artist until they exhaust themselves. One is followed by another, and then another, and this is how the artist’s numerous series are created, infinite in terms of style, type, or quantity.
What motivates and inspires him toward such diversity and creative productivity? The artist replies:
“Everything happening around us, also old mythological or simple stories that appear special seen through the prism of the present. Sometimes, a technique or a medium is my inspiration to produce a topic on its own, to have a plot build around it, and vice
versa.
“Sometimes a theme may arise inside me, and I am unable to match it with a medium. I pause, wait, knowing that, after a while, a new or temporarily forgotten technique will reawaken this theme, and that’s when I resume working.”
A Portal to the Universe is an exhibition showcasing a small fraction of the works created by artist Ilia Balavadze in the course of the past five years. Still, this exposition makes it easy to appreciate the diversity of the artist’s creative quests, interests, artistic images, and plots.
Ilia Balavadze graduated from Tbilisi Apolon Kutateladze State Academy of Art in 1994.
Until 2015, he was engaged in church painting.
Since 2015, he has been working in secular art, having taken part in numerous group and solo exhibitions and projects.

Opening:
03.11.2023
20:00 pm