EDMOND KALANDADZE'S

At 17:00 on December 16th, Art Gallery Vanda (address: 14 Chonkadze Street, Tbilisi) will host the opening of Edmond Kalandadze's exhibition and the presentation of his 100th anniversary catalogue.

The anniversary catalog of Edmond Kalandadze was published by Art Gallery Vanda, with the aid of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Youth of Georgia, which encompassed the most significant pieces from all stages of his work. The catalog showcases works from private collections in Georgia and abroad that are being published for the first time. Edmond Kalandadze's thinking, philosophy, and attitude towards creativity are reflected in quotes incorporated into the catalog.

“Painting is thinking in color. It is a desire to fight transience, death, disappearance. It is the bold dream of being a creator, of creating a world in which you alone will be the judge of everything, the ruler of all, feeding on your own fantasy, and building towers of justice and compassion.”
– Edmond Kalandadze

Edmond Kalandadze played a decisive role in the creation of a new stage of Georgian art at the end of the 1950s, during the Thaw period.
By viewing the most important achievements of classic and modern art through the prism of his worldview, he created his own unique style, giving form to a special world which is first of all associated with colour — his language of communication, expression and of the search for certain emotions.
The world pulsated in a different way for Kalandadze. He had different perspectives, different shapes and feelings.
Kalandadze employed rays of sunlight and colours to give an inner significance to forms.
It was as if Kalandadze’s vision passed through a special crystal, with the help of
which he saw reality like nobody else, and even nowadays his view is mesmerizing.
The diversity and volume of Kalandadze’s artistic legacy is very impressive. He created thousands of sketches, landscapes, portraits and still lives. Besides generalizing the beauty and glory of nature, his art is replete with a special mood of ‘the nation’s soul’. It is also distinguished by an inner independence and an amazing artistic honesty.
His colourful, sonorous and vivid creations are a hymn to his love for his country, and together form one of the most impressive pages of the history of Georgian art.