Feel free to add tags, names, dates or anything you are looking for
05/09/2023
Artist in focus • Tamar Nadiradze (1991) is a visual artist who lives and works in Tbilisi. From 2014 to 2016, Tamar Nadiradze worked at the Art Book Center. She was a resident artist at KAIR art residency as a book illustrator (Kosice, Slovakia). The major focus of the artist’s work relates to the following areas: the dialogue between social life and anthropology, mythology, psychology, as well as gender. Nadiradze primarily uses paper and watercolors as her media but she is working on diverse mediums.
01/09/2023
”Spectator” is Lali Kutateladze’s solo exhibition. Artworks presented at the exhibition were made in the last two years - from the pandemic to the war (2020-2022). During the pandemic, live contacts got limited, increased the role of virtual communications, and for one reason or another, society became a polarized observer. Artist Lali Kutateladze depicts the transitional reality between virtual and real life in an artistic form, where a person - in the mentioned series - « character, « is perceived as a spectator whose abilities are arguable or questionable. For this reason, a question arises: can virtual life change things? For the viewer, it becomes interesting to perceive and understand the secondary background, where the spectator looks at the « spectator » like a symbolic self.
23/08/2023
Nino Kipshidze (1958) is a Georgian artist. Nino Kipshidze’s artworks capture the eye with their extraordinary subtlety, resulting from the artist’s ability to channel the full pictorial potential of the fabrics used and add a peculiar touch of expressiveness to the textile as a medium. Both figurative and abstract compositions follow the principles of easel painting, where appliqués and scraps of various textured and colored fabric resemble brush strokes against the velvet, silk, or linen backgrounds. However, the ultimate source of this rush of emotion lies in the harmonious balance between the decorative tectonics of textiles and the pictorial expressions of landscapes, still lives, and figurative compositions. Host of the exhibition: Baia Gallery
23/08/2023
Artist in focus - Karlo Grigolia (1927-2014) was a Georgian nonconformist artist. In spite of considerable pressure, he was able to change the contemporary abstract vision by reintroducing the classical canon of sculpture. Thanks to Karlo Grigolia's contributions, it is now safe to say that the Georgian modern abstract classic has established its place in the country's artistic history. He combined his conceptions of form with the fundamental principles of Egyptian and Greek sculpture so as to create wholly original contemporary abstract sculptures. The inestimable value of Karlo Grigolia's work is manifested in its monumentality, energy and line, formal harmony, movement, plasticity, impulse, and most significantly, in its uniqueness of form. In the 90s, Karlo Grigolia became a member of the International Center of Contemporary Sculpture in Washington, and at the same time, headed the Association of Avant-Gardist artists of Georgia. "Forbidden Art" was the first large-scale exhibition of Karlo Grigolia’s works exhibited in Dimitri Shevardnadze national gallery. The exhibition showcased various works from the artist's sixty years of creativity. Presented by ATINATI’S cultural center.
16/08/2023
Mishiko Sulakauri (1996)was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. His work, driven and informed by autoethnography, questions systems of consumption, production, and human interaction. His research focuses on critical issues that transcend histories, borders, power dynamics, and environmental and social struggles. He has developed a personal iconography, which draws on Georgian pre-Christian history and mythology, pictograms and other graphic icons and images. ‘Qujai is no longer it’ is the title of Mishiko Sulakauri’s solo show at CH64 Gallery. The once famed Persian Kurdish steed, Qujai, belonging to King David IV, ’the Builder’, turned on its head, the horse laments the slow fading of its glory and heroism. It is a metaphor for ailing monuments and brittle subterranean layers of history that lie undiscovered and threatened with ruin. Heritage sites that serve as sustenance for the cultural identity of people across the social strata of Georgia, secular and religious, urbanite and rural alike, hold varied meanings, limitations and evolve in a myriad of ways. Engaging with Georgian Orthodox architecture, the exhibition reflects upon power dynamics and the notion of selective acceptance of the ‘new’.
16/08/2023
WORKS ON PAPER is Tato Akhalkatsishvili’s solo exhibition at Ria Keburia Foundation. The exhibition presents works on paper, which showcase the fundamental theme of his artistic research - landscape exploration. The artist created these bodies of work during his residency at Ria Keburia Foundation. Tato Akhalkatsishvili (b.1979) is a multimedia artist who lives and works in Tbilisi. From 1996 to 2003, he studied at the Tbilisi State Art Academy, majoring in fine arts. Since early 2000, the artist has actively participated in major international group exhibitions and art fairs: Start Art Fair (Saatchi Gallery, London, 2015), Vienna Contemporary (2017), Art Geneva (2018), and Art Dubai (2018). He was a resident artist among eleven international artists in Dubai in 2018. In 2017, two of Akhalkatsishvili’s works were sold at the Phillips Auction (Off White). Tato Akhalkatsishvili’s works are preserved in Tbilisi Fine Arts Museum, National Gallery, and various private collections.
16/08/2023
“Breaking the Silence” is Maka Batiashvili’s solo exhibition. Showcasing her recent paintings and graphic works with the theme of man and his surrounding world. The viewer is introduced to easily familiar artistic narratives with new emotional messages. During the lockdown, when the urban noises ceased and the air cleared, a new reality emerged, with new sensations including suppressed voices. According to the artist, the rhythm of the city stopped, and the loud song of birds was heard in the air. This is how the exhibition’s theme and title came about. Maka Batiashvili studied at the Tbilisi State Art Academy from 1992 to 1997. She has actively participated in local and international exhibitions. The exhibition is supported by the Ria Keburia Foundation Host of the exhibition: Georgian National Museum
19/07/2023
07/07/2023
Jemal Kukhalashvili (b.1952) is a Georgian artist. He graduated from the Tbilisi Academy of Art in 1978 and began his creative career in the 1980s. His creative work is characterized by a distinct personality. “The picture is clear to me and serves no philosophical purpose. I create in response to what happens around me. I am confident that the audience will attend my session and will both appreciate and despise… I will never know the result, like Noah’s ark, where my irresistible desire for survival and establishment will lead me.” - Jemal Kukhalashvili Host of the exhibition - Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery
07/07/2023
Artist in focus - Dachi Mindadze (1985) is a Georgian artist. He is the representative of the millennium generation of artists. His art is distinguished by neo-expressionist works. Mainly paints on large canvases even on nut sacks, uses oil and acrylic paints, and also mixed media. The source of his inspiration and creativity is in everyday working processes and relationships with different people, which can be limited by certain invisible energy fields and are reflected there in color.
29/06/2023
#Glimpseingallery - The exhibition has borrowed its name - “HEKATE” - from Greek mythology: Legend has it that during a shower of shooting stars, when the moon was ringed with coronae, a goddess with unique powers was born. HEKATE, using her mysterious powers, cures the sick with plant potions while murdering the healthy. Georgian artist Sopho Mamaladze (b. 2001) is based in Tbilisi and Berlin. According to the artist’s perception, Hekate’s mystery is reflected as the oneness of an infinite, sun-colored line, while azure blue and insoluble black reveal the transcendent and terrifying nature of this mythical character. The artworks, which are depicted on black baize, evoke the impression of textile, and focus on the unity of color, form and texture through which Hekate’s mysterious and belligerent character is rendered. The artworks on display at ATINATI’S exhibition space were created especially for this show, and bring together different media. Host of the Exhibition: ATINATI’S Cultural Centre Presenter of the Exhibition: The Ria Keburia Foundation Music: Koka Mamaladze
29/06/2023
Artist in focus - Misha Shengelia (1959 - 2020) was a Georgian artist. He received no formal art education (he studied geology) but was painting from an early age. Misha Shengelia’s later artistic growth and development were influenced by the atmosphere of free thinking and cross-fertilization of ideas at Rusiko Oat’s New Art Café in the 2000s. Shengelia actively participated in New Art’s life and organized numerous exhibitions and performances. Misha Shengelia’s art works repeatedly depict winter festivals frequently found in Northern Renaissance paintings, gatherings of witches and alchemists, gray cardinals, pacifist generals, mafiosi and dictators, to name but a few. These are frequently stylized images of the characters from famous masterpieces (e.g. The Ugly Duchess by Quentin Matsys, or Federico da Montefeltro by Piero della Francesca). Shengelia’s tragicomic characters are testament to his deep involvement with and artistic response to the social and political events surrounding him. Misha Shengelia’s first solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Georgia covers a 30-year timespan between 1989 and 2019. All works presented at this exhibition are from the private collection of David Mushkudiani. As well as being friends, Shengelia and Mushkudiani shared a like-mindedness. Paintings such as One Day of Mass Media in 1495 and School of the Dictatorship of Proletariat are the result of their collaboration. Misha Shengelia’s works are held in private collections in Georgia, Switzerland, UK, Denmark, Israel, USA, Russia and other countries. Photo copy rights - David Mushkudiani and Guram Tsibakhashvili
28/06/2023
#Georgianheroes • Dimitri Shevardnadze (1885 – 1937) was a public figure who was instrumental in determining the cultural life of the country throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and contributed to the establishment of two leading Georgian cultural institutions: the National Gallery of Fine Arts (1920) and the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (1922). Between 1906 and 1914 Shevardnadze lived in Munich, where he studied at the Art Academy. Upon his return to Georgia in 1916, he founded and led the Association of Georgian Artists. In 1918, he was commissioned by Professor Ivane Javakhishvili, the rector of Tbilisi State University, to design the coat of arms for the recently founded first higher education institution in Georgia. He also designed banknotes and made sketches of postage stamps for the newly independent country. Dimitri Shevardnadze organized a major scientific and artistic expedition to the historically important southern regions of Georgia. Dimitri Shevardnadze was an artist, curator, and film set designer who was also prolific in the field of scenography.
14/06/2023
07/06/2023
Alexander Varvaridze’s personal exhibition entitled “The Edge of Infinity”. Alexander Varvaridze is a visual artist best known for his paintings; he uses a distinctive approach in his work consisting of figurative shapes and colors. His portraits show him as an emotional painter rather than a realist giving him room for interpretation. Alexander’s abstract work mobilizes the tensions and harmonies between matte surfaces, natural patterns, textures built with layered surfaces of oil paint, and additional mediums. The exhibition presents the artist’s latest works – 30 paintings featuring figurative and abstract compositions. The exhibition host: Baia gallery