GEORGIAN ART: Avto Meskhi: Private Acquaintance / ავთო მესხი: პირადად ცნობილი - in ProjectArtBeat 2018 - curated by Natia Bukia.

Project ArtBeat in Tbilisi presented personal exhibition of Avto Meskhi. The exposition includes mixed media works: collages, paintings and drawings made during 1984-2015. Curated by Natia Bukia.

Avto Meskhi, due to his introvert personality and moreover his tragic life is a lesser-known painter in Georgia and abroad. Accordingly, Private Acquaintance, his solo exhibition held at the gallery exactly a year ago is a very important event for the Georgian art scene. The artist was born in Tbilisi, 1946 and lived and worked in Tbilisi and Rustavi. When Project ArtBeat discovered Meskhi he was 70 years old, he already had lost his home, where he lived with his mother and was spending last years ...

PICTUREGALLERY: Georgian Artist Rusudan Khizanishvili

Rusudan's approach to both the handling of paint and compositional construction reflects a healthy knowledge of what has come before her, while at the same time clearly display a contemporary set of values and codes of practice. Graduating with a painting degree from the Tbilisi State Academy of Art, Rusudan went on to complete an MA in Media in 2005.



rusudan-khizanishvili.com
artsy.net/rusudan-khizanishvili

VIDEO: ERTI Gallery presents Koka Ramishvili's solo exhibition "Light Machines", curated by Karine Tissot. Project partner SOLO, Galleries X Tbilisi Photo Festival

Koka Ramishvili
Light Machines
Curator: Karine Tissot
Project Partner: SOLO
Galleries x Tbilisi Photo Festival
ERTI Gallery, 19 P. Ingorokva str / 5 9April str, 0108 Tiflis
September 15 - October 23 

Link: Koka Ramishvili's solo show "Light Machines" curated by Karine Tissot [artsy.net]

Koka Ramishvili’s Light Machines are much more than still lifes for they are systematically animated by movement – which situates the work in a perfect contradiction of a genre normally characterized by the inertia of the motif (still life). Nor can they be reduced to a mere expression of a certain experimentation since there is a deliberately studied aesthetic to them.

Between art and a sort of demonstration, Ramishvili creates geometrical shapes – sometimes inspired by the world of de Chirico or the sculptures of Brancusi –to reveal, through photography, a light that the artist breaks down into a monochrome array of soft grays. No black and white contrasts that would strictly separate the tones and reduce the world to a Manichean view of things. On the contrary, a generous array of nuances with blurred outlines offers the eye the chance to penetrate these intermediary worlds lying between bright and dark, somewhere between dreams and reality, beyond a truth that is unique, sharp, and caught in a fraction of a second by a photo journalist.

Koka Ramishvili works the light of his photos and acts on the very way light is perceived. Eschewing all spiritual meaning, he fosters a perceptual, sensory experience where time is superimposed over transparency. Everything moves towards impermanence. Everything is becoming. Process is essential. Here lies the essence of this work. In the challenge of expressing light as an abstract structure, he animates the installations of his invention so that they retain a fleeting impression. Thanks to movement, real objects shed their materiality in subtle plays of shade and light. His images thus create visions that are inaccessible to the human eye and his simplest staged scenes suddenly verge on the abstract, making the photograph nothing less than photography, in other words, a writing with light in the etymological sense of the word. On the other hand, when he is looking outside the studio to express a form of combustion in the landscape, Ramishvili will occasionally polish the image in the touching-up process. Light is manipulated after the fact. A pair of real-looking suns, for instance, appears in an immaculate sky (Ascension, pp. 22-23), and three glowing celestial bodies create a sequence on the horizon (Three Stars (Evolution), 2019, pp. 30-31), while a bright illumination takes over a face (The Shining (Face) – 2017, p. 24).

As a visual artist who has always sought to slip his thinking into multiple mediums – while making sure to master them perfectly, each according to its use – Koka Ramishvili took up photography again in 2016. Having abandoned the documentary practice seen in the early years of his career, he is now devoting himself to photography as he would were he working on a painting, that is, his compositions are first elaborated conceptually before they are executed, making his work both a form of thinking and a realization, a perfect marriage of content and form, a paragon of comprehensiveness. They promise to stretch the limits of representing the world thanks to his working of the light. Indeed, although his work follows in the wake of themes in art that go back centuries – like portraiture or landscape – Ramishvili regularly puts light at the center of his thinking and reminds us of what Laszlo Moholy-Nagy pointed out in 1925 in his foundational book, Painting Photography Film, “I am convinced that a new art of light is being born.” Until then the history of art had been punctuated by works that placed front and center the play of shadows and light, from the research of Renaissance painters into chiaroscuro to the expression of the sensation of light by Turner and Monet, although photography opened a field of possibilities that proved vaster by far.

Koka Ramishvili is following a trail first blazed by modernity a century ago. Nevertheless, his experience, renewed by the summers he has spent in Greece over the last few years, feeds into a singular approach filled with striking patches of white, reliefs formed from gentle lines, and clement skies that give voice to a harmonious world in black and white, whose light is the condition of the visible. It is indeed what makes the perception of shapes and limits of objects and spaces possible. If the role played by light in art has often been inextricably linked to the deepening of scientific knowledge and the appearance of technologies that put it to work, Koka Ramishvili raises it to the level of the main protagonist in order to speak about the essence of art and life in a singular impulse of freedom and intuition that avoids the pitfall of the cliché.

Karine Tissot, 2019

more links:
haeusler-contemporary.com/koka-ramishvili
www.kokaramishvili.org

ART: Painting and Drawing by Mariam Kandiashvili

Born in 1993 Tbilisi, Georgia. Mariam Kandiashvili started her education in visual art at the age of twelve at a private studio of famous Georgian artists Tamaz and Gia Khutsishvili. After graduating high school she continued her studies abroad. She took a contemporary art preparatory course at Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam. Later moved to England and studied illustration for two years at Arts University Bournemouth. In 2016 returned to Tbilisi and continued her artistic practice there.

Kandiashvili’s artworks are focused on various themes such as; Christian mysticism, world mythology, literature and poetry, psychology, aesthetic style and music of western culture of 1950s, 60s and 70s. Her works portray dreamlike and enigmatic worlds, imaginary lands, emotionally expressive portraits, modern day cityscapes, bizarre characters and beasts. Her works are often containing texts and poems created by the author herself. She works with the use of different materials and likes experimentation but chooses oil painting as her main medium.

More: mariamkandiashvili.wordpress.com

Mariam Kandiashvili, “Desert of time” 60x80cm – Oil on canvas – 2011

VIDEO: Georgian Artist Niniko Morbedadze

Video Art by Nato Shushania based on Niniko Morbedadze Paintings

PHOTOGRAPHY: Mariam Amurvelashvili

(lensculture.com) Amurvelashvili is a freelance photographer and member of the online platform and collective, Georgianphotographers.com. Originally trained in philology, mastering the German language and literature, Amurvelashvili began working as a staff photographer for the daily Georgian newspaper 24 Hours in 2002 and for UNICEF’s Georgia office in 2004. Her work has been exhibited in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland. Her photographs have also been selected for the 2010 Angkor Photo Festival, the Tbilisi Photo Festival, the 2011 Chobi Mela Festival, the 2012 Aleppo International Photo Festival, and les Rencontres d’Arles. In 2010, Amurvelashvili was selected to participate in a young photographers’ artist-in-residence program and master class in Niort, France, and in 2011 was shortlisted for the Lucie Foundation Scholarship. In 2008, Amurvelashvili won first prize in KARAT Coalition’s photo competition and exhibition, “Through Their Eyes, Through Ours.” In 2013 she received OSF (Open society Foundation) documentary photography grant. 2014 her work "puzzles of us" was selected for Angkor photo festival. Her first book "Endless Questions" will be published by "Damiani" in March 2016.

Gallery: Endless Questions by Mariam Amurvelashvili
Book: Mariam Amurvelashvili: Endless Questions
Gallery: Another memory by Mariam Amurvelashvili
Georgia’s Old Prisons Were Sites of Documentary Photography, But New Prisons Are Sites of Video, Rape, Beatings and Scandal. By Mariam Amurvelashvili [prisonphotography.org]
Khevsureti. By Mariam Amurvelashvili [oseweb]
Endless Questions Mariam Amurvelashvili [issuu.com]
For Georgian photographer Mariam Amurvelashvili, a camera is the means of self-expression. She considers her camera to be an inseparable part of her body and mind, capable of constructing a chronology and accommodating everything of significance to her in one frame. Endless Questions is not only a story about children, narrated by a mother with love. In 70 photos, Amurvelashvili gives us an intimate look at the world of brother and sister.
Mariam Amurvelashvili [jmcolberg.com]
Mariam Amurvelashvili - Endless questions [josefchladek.com]
"For Georgian photographer Mariam Amurvelashvili, a camera is the means of self-expression. She considers her camera to be an inseparable part of her body and mind, capable of constructing a chronology and accommodating everything of significance to her in one frame. Endless Questions is not only a story about children, narrated by a mother with love. In 70 photos, Amurvelashvili gives us an intimate look at the world of brother and sister. Composed portraits of the children are accompanied by candid photos of them in the Giorgian landscape. Drawings by Amurvelashvili’s daughter are interspersed among the photographs, giving the book the feeling of a family album."

Facebook: facebook.com/mariam.amurvelashvili
Instagram: Iphonephotography only @mariamamurvelashvili

ERÖFFNUNG: Ausstellung - Seascapes. Arbeiten von dem georgischen Künstler Giorgi Shengelia in Berlin

Eröffnung am 19.01.2018. Von 19.00 bis 21.00 Uhr

GH36
www.gh36.de
Große Hamburgerstr. 36
10115 Berlin-Mitte

Ausstellung vom 19.01. bis 01.02.2018

Öffnungszeiten: Dienstag bis Sontag von 11.00 bis 15.00 Uhr

Oder nach Absprache: Tel. 030 / 22 35 96 30

In seinen Seelandschaften bezieht sich Künstler Giorgi Shengelia auf die Brücke Maler die Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts an der Nordseeküste ihre Expressionichen Meeresstücken malten. Kräftige Farbakkorde, expressive Kompositionen zeichnen Giorgi Shengelias malerischen Stil aus. Genauso wie die Brücke Maler ist Shengelia fasziniert von der Nordsee, deren Darstellungen in seinen Bildern atmosphärisch und abstrakt sind. Die Bildflächen atmen Frische und Freiheit. Farben und Gliederung spielen in seiner Kunst eine große Rolle, die schwarzen Bildränder und Konturen geben den Werken besondere Struktur und Ordnung. In abstrakte Bilder oft hinein gemalte geometrische Strukturen wirken dreidimensional und geben der glatten Oberflächen besondere Dynamik. In unserer Zeit des Klimawandels und der zerstörten Ökosystemen, wo die Meeresspigel ständig steigt und mit Überschwemmungen droht, gewinnen Shengelias Meereslandschaften, wo die grenze zwischen Land und Meer verwischt, eine besondere Aktualität.


Homepage: giorgishengelia.com
 
Facebook:
facebook.com/giorgi.shengelia
facebook.com/Vernissage Giorgi Shengelia - "Seascapes"

Biography

Giorgi Shengelia was born in 1977 in the city of Sukhumi, Georgia. He studied art at the Academy of Art in Tbilisi. In the year 2001 Giorgi fled his homeland out of necessity and he washed ashore in The Netherlands.

Since 2003 Giorgi is living and working in the village of Bergen, in Northern-Holland, a safe haven behind the dunes of the North Sea coast. Here Giorgi makes paintings and mixed media mostly. Besides he is working on installations and sculptures. He is even active in photography.

The amount of subjects Giorgi expresses in his work are endless: nature, city life, landscape, daily life, home, love, food, people, as I said: limitless. As a visual artist he is fascinated by the tensions and clashes between the reality and the artificial, the visual and elusive and the past and the future. The sensitive paintings of Giorgi Shengelia range from abstract to figurative, wildly drawn or with great precision, on canvas, paper or wood. All of varying sizes. His expressive sculptures are mostly made out of steel and objects from the scrap-heap. Making art, celebrating life and living in freedom are Giorgi’s keywords for now and the future.

More: artisticresearchencounters.blogspot.de

GALLERY: Tutu's Day - Paintings by the Georgian Artist Tutu Kiladze - based in Tbilisi

Mouseover for the Gallery

The artist took participation in different international exhibitions - including Cologne, Jerusalem, Viennafair-Austria. She takes partipition in annual Contemporary Art-Festival-Fest I NOVA

Private Collections – Georgia, France, USA, Russia, Israel, England, Austria, Germany.

CONTACT: +995599389046; tuturinasi@yahoo.com

Date of birth: December 30, 1981, Tbilisi, Georgia
Education: 1999-2005 State Academy of arts, Tbilisi, Georgia

Tutu Kiladze, 2014

2017-Solo show, (Gallery Totibadze) Gallery Astronauts,Riga
2016-Solo show, Baia Gallery,love at 10X10.Tbilisi
2016-Italy.Castello deiconti de Ceccano(´Group Exhibition)
2016-GNM. Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery (group Exhibition)
2015-Vienna, Austria, Galerie am Roten Hof
2015-Russian museum,Russia(group Exhibition)
2015-Group Exhibition,Russia, Rozaazora
2015-Solo show,Artarea, Tbilisi
2014 - Art Villa Garikula, “Opus Mixtum”, Akhalkalaki, Georgia
2014 - Solo Show, Gala Galery. Tbilisi Georgia
2012 - Viennafair, Vienna, Austria
2012 - Jerusalem Plein Air, Jerusalem, Israel
2011 - Batumi plein Air, Batumi, Georgia
2011 -New Art Café, Tbilisi, Georgia
2010 - Gallery 9, Tbilisi Georgia
2010 - Gallery-Café, Tbilisi, Georgia
2009 - Tbilisi Auction House, Tbilisi, Georgia
2006 - TBC Bank Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia
2003 - Modern Art Gallery, Christmas exhibition, Tbilisi, Georgia
2002 -Gallery Universe, Tbilisi History Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia
2001 - US Embassy in Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia

Further Links:
facebook.com/tutu.kiladze
georgianfemaleartists.blogspot.de
art-chapeau.blogspot.de
finbahn.com

PAINTINGS: New Artworks by the Georgian Artist Maka Batiashvili

"Journey in to secret world and not existent time and place, swirls waves of sadness and pleasure together, which is sweetest thing ever." (Maka Batiashvili about her art)


Project ArtBeat at Art Fair ArtVilnius'17 with Georgian Artists Maka Batiashvili, George Gagoshidze, Levan Mindiashvili, 8 June - 11 June

Bus station  45x40cm  oil on canvas 2017

Bush 86x78cm oil on canvas  2017

Evening 44x27 oil on canvas  2017

Football 46x40cm oil on canvas  2017

Jump 40x30cm oil on canvas  2017

Jump 49x44cm oil on canvas  2017

Kiss 120x98cm oil on oilcloth 2017

Sport hall 60x40cm oil on canvas  2017

Sun 45x23cm oil on canvas  2017

Bridge 45x40cm  oil on canvas 2017

OPENING: Upcoming Group Show in LIA on 28th of November: "A Topology of Memory" with international artists - with David Kukhalashvili from Georgia (liap.eu)

(liap.eu) We would cordially like to invite you to the LIA Group Show: 'A Topology of Memory'

Opening on 28th of November 2014 at 7 pm

with international awardees:

Catalina Bauer (Chile)
Anne Bertoin (France/Canada)
David Kukhalashvili (Georgia)
Natalia Ossef (Syria/Netherlands)
Carlos Sagrera (Spain)

We thank LIA main partner BMW and Consejo National de la Cultura y las Artes Fondart Chile.

Opening Hours: Saturday, 29th from 11 am till 8 pm
Spinnereistr. 7, Halle 18, 2nd Floor
www.LIAP.eu // k.semenova@liap.eu
facebook.com/christina.semenova 

David Kukhalashvili from Tbilisi in his studio. He studied from 2005 till 2009 at Tbilisi State Academy of Art, Georgia. But by rector's decision his diploma was denied because of his critic on the Academy's system. In his drawings and paintings he shows a critical approach to and the reflection on contemporary Georgian society makes — mit David Kukhalashvili.

more: facebook.com/lia.leipzig

KUNST: Shalva Berekashvili ist Preisträger des Förderpreises der Casino-Gesellschaft. Von Marija Herceg (saarbruecker-zeitung.de)

(saarbruecker-zeitung.de) Der aus Georgien stammende Kunst-Student Shalva Berekashvili ist fasziniert vom Zusammenspiel künstlicher und natürlicher Dinge. Für seine künstlerische Arbeit wurde der 32-Jährige mit dem Preis der Casino-Gesellschaft ausgezeichnet. (Veröffentlicht am 24.07.2014)

Saarbrücken. Die Casino-Gesellschaft hat ihren mit 1500 Euro dotierten Förderpreis an den Studenten der Hochschule der Bildenden Künste (HBKsaar) Shalva Berekashvili (32) vergeben (wir berichteten). Anlässlich des 200-jährigen Bestehens der Casino Gesellschaft habe man den Preis für Nachwuchskünstler vor 18 Jahren ins Leben gerufen, um jungen, talentierten Menschen die Möglichkeit zu geben, ihr Schaffen zu präsentieren und weiterzuentwickeln, so Lothar Arnold, Vorsitzender der Saarbrücker Casino Gesellschaft.

Neu waren Berekashvilis Arbeiten für Arnold nicht: „Bei einer Vorstandssitzung durften wir Berekashvili schon einmal kennenlernen: Seine Arbeiten haben uns damals schon sehr beeindruckt“, sagte Arnold. Es sei immer schwer, jemanden aus den über 400 HBK-Studenten explizit herauszuheben und für den Förderpreis vorzuschlagen, gestand Laudatorin Gabriele Langendorf, Rektorin und Professorin der HBKSaar. Dennoch habe man mit Berekashvili als Preisträger die richtige Wahl getroffen, weil er beharrlich und konsequent seinen Weg verfolge. Er erweitere in seinen Bildwelten und konzeptionellen Arbeiten das Verständnis der Malerei, indem er die Leinwand nicht nur als einfaches Tableau betrachte, sondern verschiedene Materialien wie Verpackungskarton und Techniken wie Siebdruck zusätzlich nutze, um neue Räumlichkeiten entstehen zu lassen, lobte Langendorf.

Berekashvilis Arbeiten seien deshalb hochaktuell, weil die zeitgenössische Malerei derzeit durchtränkt wird vom Anspruch „mehr Raum, mehr Gegenstände“ ins Bildinnere einzubinden.

Dass Konsequenz sich nicht immer in Gradlinigkeit ausdrückt, zeigt Berekashvilis Lebenslauf: Der gebürtige Georgier studierte an der Kunsthochschule Tbilissi erst Malerei, später absolvierte er einen Bachelor-Studiengang in Psychologie an der Uni in Tbilissi und belegte Meisterkurse für Fotografie. Seit 2011 studiert er an HBKsaar Freie Kunst mit dem Schwerpunkt Konzeptuelle Malerei im Atelier von Professorin Katharina Hinsberg und befindet sich derzeit im sechsten Semester. Er setzte sich intensiv mit der Siebdrucktechnik auseinander und entdeckte den Reiz der Synthese der unterschiedlichen künstlerischen Verfahrensweisen, so Langendorf.

Im Fürstenzimmer im Casino am Staden zeigte der 32-jährige Künstler drei seiner Werke, die er als „industrialisierte Landschaften“ beschreibt, weil sie das Zusammentreffen von Natur und Zivilisation zeigen. Landschaft sei für ihn nie einfach nur Natur gewesen, sondern schon immer geprägt durch eine urbane Räumlichkeit, die er in der postsowjetischen Architektur von Tbilissi erlebt habe.

Seine „industrialisierten Landschaften“ mischen Natur und von Menschenhand geschaffene Gegenstände. Bei zwei seiner Werke klebte er Verpackungskarton auf die Leinwand. Die kreisrunden Aussparungen füllt er mit Farbe. Inspiration für diese Arbeiten waren Bewässerungssysteme, da sie Technisches mit dem natürlichen Element des Wassers mischten: „Mich interessiert das Zusammenspiel von künstlichen und natürlichen Gegenständen“, erklärt er. Der konstruierten Umwelt stellt er die natürliche entgegen. „Das Spiel mit Kontrasten und Gegensätzen fasziniert mich“, so Berekashvili.

www.die-saarbruecker-casino-gesellschaft.de

www.hbksaar.de

REVIEW: BORDERLINES mural by Levan Mindiashvili (thelodgegallery.com)

(thelodgegallery.com) Making of the mural BORDERLINES
Levan Mindiashvili created site specific mural for his solo show in New York at The Lodge Gallery.

BORDERLINES, new work of Levan Mindiashvili
January 17 - February 4, 2014
The Lodge Gallery, 131 Chrystie str. NYC

[link to Press Release]

Levan Mindiashvili has been making work about urban landscapes that inform our sense of identity and the intimate connections we make with the spaces we inhabit since 2012. In 2003 he graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (Republic of Georgia) and the same year started intensively exhibiting his works in Europe. From 2008 – 2012 he lived and worked in Buenos Aires, Argentina where he received his MFA from the National University of Art of Buenos Aires

Mindiashvili’s new series, entitled Borderlines, is a study of his reflections on cities as both public and private meeting points. Originally conceived in Buenos Aires, this recent body of work explores the artist’s personal and collective experiences with the architecture and public structures of New York, where he is currently based. It is through his renderings of reflections amongst monumental objects, combined with a uniquely subjective reinterpretation of urban stimulation/inundation, that he reveals his complex and evolving personal relationship with the city.

Borderlines is an investigation into the sediment of his global experience, the invisible realities that have been burned into his subconscious country by country, city by city, block by block. “Generally, architecture most clearly defines and reveals the changes in our contemporary world, in our approaches and common visions,” says Mindiashvili.

His new work depicts distorted, almost abstract fragments of old architecture reflected on new, transparent surfaces or seen through them. “I perceive them as maps of consciousness of the contemporary world with its migrations, gentrification, identity and social issues,” the artist explains, “I want to trigger a dialogue about recent history.” The idea that a personal history is valuable and that the reflected perception of each individual dictates the overall substance and spirit of the larger urban landscape is deeply rooted in his intentions.

Website: levan-m.com

EXHIBITION: Merab Abramishvili at the Baia Gallery (geoplatforma.blogspot.de)

(geoplatforma.blogspot.de) BAIA GALLERY has hosted an exhibition of Merab Abramishvili. Seeing his work is always a very exciting possibility. The intricate craftsmanship, astonishing colour palette, carefully planned compositions and the naïve looking subject matters never fail to capture the heart of the audience. Having a very distinct painting style, Abramishvili belongs to the alternative art scene of the 80s Georgia. This group is a very significantly interested in religion, often employing it as their subject matter- a kind of protest against the Soviet dismissal of religion and their forced recreation of the national identity.

Abramishvili’s themes are particularly fascinating when analysed in relation to the context of Georgia when he was painting. The country was engulfed in crisis of all sorts. The Soviet Union broke down causing unrest, civil war and Abkhazian conflict; the decade of darkness arrived, with no electricity, hunger and death. Surrounded by this, Abramishvili found an escape route in his mythological and biblical scenes, the heavenly animals and rocking maidens. Abramishvili’s canvases radiated hope against the total agony- hence his charm.

‘The art of 80s fetishizes the idea of escapism, of creating the ideal world and moving to there. There is a shared desire of opposing the prevalent deconstructionism with the universal values. The artists of 80s [Georgians] did not come protesting, but came with a position. Almost everywhere else in the post-Soviet countries, the protest against the environment was reactionary, aggressive, reflexive and poster-like, similar to the objective surroundings. However, in here the more critical the environment, the more stable, harmonious and balanced was the art world.’- writes Baia Tsikoridze, the owner of the Baia Gallery. Instead of focusing and almost copying the chaos around, these artists were evoking the values that would save the society. These were the illusions of beauty, serenity and stability, calmness, kindness and steadiness; Abramishvili’s canvases are infused with. Emphasis on aestheticism was the protest against the rundown, discouraged, destitute society.

The painter has themes he often returns to; the exotic animals are quite attractive for the artist. Repainting the lions, tigers and leopards the painter saw the far lands of Africa as the only faint imitation of heaven; when little, he famously was saving the pocket money to travel to there.

Abramishvili was a student of Alexander Bandzeladze, a celebrated abstract painter; probably it was Bandzeladze who inspired Abramishvili to be so sensitive towards colour. Abramishvili’s palette is always a very distinctively intellectual; even the bright pinks are used in such combinations that crate a very darbaiseli harmony. The two-dimensionality of Abramishvili’s paintings are definitely an influence of his genius mentor.

Abramishvili’s painting technique is a very distinctive one. Working in tempera and watercolours, the painter employed and arguably revived the gesso technique; deeply inspired by the fresco painting, which is not surprising as Georgia has a centuries old fresco painting tradition. The father of the painter, Guram Abramishvili was an art historian and had expeditions on historical sites such as the Ateni Sioni, where young Merab was busy inspecting and producing the copies of frescos and arguably falling in love with them. Later on Abramishvili got interested and has researched fundamentally the Persian miniature paintings. His art is an astonishing hybrid of the Georgian fresco and Eastern miniature paintings. Scrupulous attention to every detail, the transparent washes lit up by the egg glazing speak of a very demanding and disciplined painter.

Even though the exposition was hastily organised, lacked logic and did not last long enough, it was still breath-taking to see Abramishvili canvases publicly, as not even the best reproductions do justice to the originals. These exquisite paintings that ought to be hung in the museum unfortunately only get exhibited in the private Salons, usually pre-sale. Abramishvili is very popular among the Georgian collectors and recently he has been included in the Sotheby’s sales. First it was sold At the Crossroads exhibition, the Maneater of Kumaon and the Piano has just recently been sold on the Russian Art auction, Sotheby’s.

ART in VIENNA: Fokus: Georgia 2:00-3:00 pm, 13.10.2013 - Georgia, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia (thenewcontemporary.com)

Die Sonderausstellung trägt den Titel Unser Kaukasus, georgisch: Chveni Kavkasioni. Der Titel dieser Gruppenausstellung bezieht sich auf das Lied aus dem 1976 entstandenen Film von Tengiz Abuladze „Der Wunschbaum“. Die Show präsentiert Werke der folgenden Künstler: Marika Asatiani (more from Marika Asatiani und hier >>>), Natela Grigalashvili, Andro Eradze (androeradze.blogspot.de) Giorgi Khaniashvili, Nino Kvrivishvili, Mamuka Japaridze, Sophia Tabatadze, Koka Ramishvili, KoteSulaberidze, Maya Sumbadze, Giorgi Okropiridze, Guia Rigvava, Tamuna Sirbiladze, Tatia Skhirtladze.
Projektkuratorin: Irena Popiashvili

The special project exhibition is titled Our Caucasus i. e. “Chveni Kavkasioni“. The title of this group exhibition refers to the song from Tengiz Abuladze’s 1976 “The Wishing Tree”. The show presents the work of the following artists: Marika Asatiani, Natela Grigalashvili, Andro Eradze, Giorgi Khaniashvili, Nino Kvrivishvili, Mamuka Japaridze, Sophia Tabatadze, Koka Ramishvili, Kote Sulaberidze, Maya Sumbadze, Giorgi Okropiridze, Guia Rigvava, Tamuna Sirbiladze and Tatia Skhirtladze.
Project curated by Irena Popiashvili 


Moderator: Irena Popiashvili (Co-founder NP Gallery, co-curator of VIENNA Duet: Our Caucasus exhibition), an independent curator dividing her time between Tbilisi, Georgia and New York, USA. 

(thenewcontemporary.com) Currently she is a consultant at the Free University in Tbilisi and runs a public art space – Popiashvili Gvaberidze Window Project in Tbilisi Georgia. Previously a founder and co-owner of Newman Popiashvili Gallery in New York (2005-2012) she served as a director of the State Academy of Arts in Tbilisi (March- November) 2012.

VIENNA Talks showcases a broad spectrum of presentations, discussions, and debates with important representatives of the contemporary art scene. This year’s Talks provides an exciting and multifaceted platform for art professionals from different Eastern focus regions – people who rarely have the chance to meet each other – to represent their countries to the fullest and evidence the unique character of the region. Each day of VIENNA Talks will reflect upon a topical theme in contemporary art.

Location: VIENNA Talks booth C23
The discussions will be in English.
13 October 2013

VIENNA Talks School of Happiness – VIENNA Duet

2:00 – 3:00 pm: FOCUS: Georgia, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia

Natela Grigalashvili from the series Doukhobors, 2013. Digital print 40 x 60 cm

VIENNAFAIR Program

VIENNA Duet: Georgia – “Our Caucasus”. Part I 

VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary is grateful to the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia and the Embassy of Georgia in Vienna for their generous support of the special project VIENNA Duet: Georgia “Our Caucasus i. e. Chveni Kavkasioni” curated by Irena Popiashvili and the artistic directors of VIENNAFAIR Christina Steinbrecher – Pfandt and Vita Zaman. “The art … Continue reading »

Maya Sumbadze Prayer Shortcuts 1, 2013. Watercolor and ink on digital print 40 x 28,5 cm

Kote Sulaberidze My Caucasus, 2011 Watercolor, acrylic, silkscreen and tape on paper 29,7X294 cm, (detail) courtesy of the artist

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VIENNA Duet: Georgia – “Our Caucasus”. Part II 
VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary is grateful to the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia and the Embassy of Georgia in Vienna for their generous support of the special project VIENNA Duet: Georgia “Our Caucasus i. e. Chveni Kavkasioni” curated by Irena Popiashvili and the artistic directors of VIENNAFAIR Christina Steinbrecher–Pfandt and Vita Zaman.  Continue reading »

Elsewhere / VIENNAFAIR Diary 
Christina Steinbrecher Visits Georgia

Following last year’s VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary kick-off with a curated section of the VIENNA Quintet program in which Georgia played an important role and many artists came to Vienna, we promised to visit Tibilisi. By the end of May everything was set up for the visit! Continue reading »

“Dedicated To Franz West” – An Interview With Georgian Artist Tamuna Sirbiladze 

We are proud to present our second video interview series. New style, more Vienna impressions! We hope you enjoy our first video – as much as we do! Continue reading »

 



 
VIENNA Duet – Länderschwerpunkte 2013: Georgien und Polen

Im Rahmen der VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary präsentieren die künstlerischen Leiterinnen Christina Steinbrecher-Pfandt und Vita Zaman Georgien und Polen als Länderschwerpunkte und setzen damit das erfolgreich begonnene Sonderausstellungsprojekt VIENNA Quintet, das letztes Jahr zum ersten Mal auf der Kunstmesse in Wien mit KünstlerInnen aus Aserbaidschan, Kasachstan, Georgien, Ukraine und Weißrussland zu sehen war, unter den Namen VIENNA Duet fort. Die diesjährigen zwei Sonderausstellungen entstehen in enger Kooperation mit Galerien, Institutionen und Organisationen sowie ExpertInnen aus den beiden Ländern.

Die erste Sonderausstellung „Our Caucasus oder Chveni Kavkasioni“, kuratiert von den künstlerischen Leiterinnen der VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary und Irena Popiashvili und unterstützt vom georgischen Ministerium für Kultur und Denkmalschutz, präsentiert Arbeiten von den in Wien lebenden und arbeitenden georgischen KünstlerInnen Gogi Okropiridze, Guia Rigvava, Tamuna Sirbiladze und Tatia Skhirtladze und von den in Georgien ansässigen KünstlerInnen Marika Asatiani, Andro Eradze, Giorgi Khaniashvili, Maya L. Sumbadze, Mamuka Japaridze, Sophia Tabatadze, Koka Ramishvili, Nino Kvrivishvili, Kote Sulaberidze und Natela Grigalashvili.

Der Titel der Gruppenausstellung bezieht sich auf den Film „The Wishing Tree“ von Tengiz Abuladze aus dem Jahr 1976. Der Film erzählt die Lebensgeschichte mehrerer DorfbewohnerInnen zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts. Unter ihnen ist ein ungewöhnlicher Mann, der an eine bessere Zukunft und eine kommende Revolution glaubt und eine Fangemeinde unter den Dorfkindern hat. Der Refrain ihrer „Hymne“ lautet „Chveni Kavkasioni”, was „unser Kaukasus“ heißt.

Die zweite Sonderausstellung „Who Are You or The School of Happiness“, die vom Polnischen Institut Wien unterstützt wird, präsentiert unter der kuratorischen Begleitung der polnischen Kunsthistorikerin Klara Czerniewska zeitgenössische Kunstpositionen aus Polen. Teilnehmende KünstlerInnen sind: Tymek Borowski, Hubert Czerepok, Łukasz Jastrubczak, Przemek Matecki, Dominika Olszowy, Małgorzata Szymankiewicz, Maria Toboła und Jan Zamoyski. 

DATUM 10. bis 13. Oktober 2013
ORT Messe Wien, Halle A
Messeplatz 1, 1020 Wien

BESUCHERINNENINFORMATION
www.viennafair.at/de
www.thenewcontemporary.com
www.facebook.com/Viennafair

ÖFFNUNGSZEITEN
Donnerstag, 10. Oktober 2013: 11 – 19 Uhr, Freitag, 11. Oktober 2013: 11 – 21 Uhr
Samstag, 12. Oktober 2013: 11 – 19 Uhr, Sonntag, 13. Oktober 2013: 11 – 18 Uhr

EINTRITT
€ 12,50 Tageskarte für Erwachsene
€ 09,00 Tagesticket / Vorverkauf und Onlinebuchung
€ 09,00 Tagesticket für KundInnen der Erste Bank
€ 09,00 After-Work-Ticket (Donnerstag/Freitag ab 16 Uhr)
€ 09,00 Ticket für SeniorInnen bei Vorweisen eines gültigen Ausweises.
€ 29,00 4-Tagesticket

Freier Eintritt für Kinder unter 14 Jahren und Studierende ab 15 Uhr bei Vorweisen eines gültigen Studentenausweises.

Messe Wien, Halle A
Messeplatz 1, 1020 Wien
Österreich

AUSSTELLUNG: "Impressionen aus Georgien" in der Galerie "GRUSIGNAC" in Berlin

Sehr geehrter Damen und Herren,

wir möchten Sie auf die Ausstellung "Impressionen aus Georgien" in der Galerie "GRUSIGNAC" hinweisen. Es werden Werke der Künster MananaBobokhidze und Giorgi Khodeli gezeigt. Diese findet vom 1.08.2013 bis zum 30.08.2013 statt.

Die Eröffnung der Ausstellung ist am 9.08.2013 um 19.00 Uhr.

Ausführliche Information finden Sie im Flyer.

Wir würden uns freuen,Sie persönlich bei der Ausstellungseröffnung begrüßen zu dürfen. Es werden dabei georgische Spezialitäten gereicht.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Tamar Sabanadze

Weinhaus GRUSIGNAC 

Prenzlauer Allee 191, 10405 Berlin,

Tel.: 030/66 86 81 36 

info@grusignac.de 

Künstler Giorgi Khodeli

Meine künstlerische Laufbahn begann schon früh, so konnte ich es als mein Glück nennen, dass mich seinerzeit der weltweit bekannte Künstler Tsereteli entdeckte und mir eine fruchtbare Zusammenarbeit in Russland ermöglichte, eine Möglichkeit, die vor allem in meinem armen Herkunftsland ein wirkliches Glück bedeutet. Tsereteli war für mich Anreger und Freund zugleich, der mir nunmehr die unbändige Erlebniskraft und außergewöhnliche Fähigkeit vermittelte, das Leben intensiv zu erfahren und in der Musik der Bilder zu verarbeiten. 

Wichtige persönliche Erfahrungswerte konnte ich auch durch meine Mitarbeit in der Kunstgalerie in Moskau als maler-restaurator gewinnen sowie meine Mitwirkung in dem Werk von Zura Tsereteli, welches auch die Basis für eine breite Etablierung meiner Werke in Russland darstellt.