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24/11/2023
#Glimpseingallery - Ekaterine Totladze (2001) is a student, who won ATINATI’S award. “WHITE NOISE” is the title of her first personal exhibition. The talented artist dedicated four months to crafting the captivating series, “WHITE NOISE” exclusively for this show. Ekaterine Totladze’s new series focuses on the observation of an individual, elevating the subject to an object of scrutiny. A separate wall in the show is dedicated to displaying the artist’s early work. This particular canvas played a pivotal role in determining the contestant’s fate and garnered unanimous approval from the jury. Consequently, the wall housing this significant piece carries a metaphorical load, symbolizing the journey from the victory to the realization of the solo exhibition. The ATINATI Foundation instituted a prize for students at A. Kutateladze Tbilisi State Academy of Arts. Fourth-year fine arts students had the opportunity to enter the open competition by registering within a month. Through a selection process conducted behind closed doors, a panel comprising both local and international jury members identified the top six students. The contestants presented their artworks to a diverse audience in the exhibition hall of the Academy of Arts. Among them, Ekaterine Totladze emerged as the winner. Following the award conditions, the artist received a prize of €5,000. This occasion is marked by the hosting of her personal exhibition at the ATINATI Culture Center.
24/11/2023
EUROPALIA 2023 - This autumn, Europalia dedicates an arts festival to Georgia! The starting point for this edition is the country’s fascinating culture and the art scene of its bustling capital, Tbilisi, alongside that of lesser-known cities and regions. Starting 4 October 2023, visitors can enjoy a rich programme of exhibitions, performances, concerts, film, dance and theatre productions and literature across Belgium. Europalia, as a major international art festival, was founded in 1969, initially the goal of the festival was to bring the art and culture of European countries to Belgium, the heart of Europe. Europalia is an immensely important festival from a cultural point of view, as it promotes intercultural and intergenerational exchanges, as well as research, reflection and creativity. Festival is held once every two years to celebrate the cultural heritage of one of the invited countries. The festival’s opening exhibition was, The Avant-Garde in Georgia (1900-1936) at Bozar (Brussels). In the 1910s and 1920s, an artistic scene blossomed in Georgia, centered on taverns and cafes opened and decorated by artists from different backgrounds. These artists blended Georgian traditions with elements from the East and West in a unique art that fell into oblivion due to the repression and censorship of the Soviet regime. The exhibition brings together paintings, drawings, film, photography, poetry and costume and theater designs from this artistic laboratory and gives a voice to these artists, many of whom were persecuted during the Soviet era. Duration of the exhibition: 04.10.2023 – 14.01.2024 Music credits: Anthem of the European Union, Revaz Lagidze “Kuri ugde Sakartvelos” Host of the exhibition: BOZAR, Brussels
24/11/2023
#Glimpseingallery - Nina Kintsurashvili (1992) is a Georgian artist. Nina Kintsurashvili’s first solo show - MUTE THINGS consist of recent paintings and an installation with works on paper. Kintsurashvili analytical but, at the same time, intuitive approach towards abstract painting probes the complexities of the medium itself. Her inquiry into the form manifests in diverse imagery and a range of painterly techniques. She works on her canvas separately, each having a particular internal logic and choreography. For Kintsurashvili the diverse approach and inquiry into specific formal questions make an artist a collector of various tools. For her, color, line, materiality of paint, the speed of a brushstroke, humor, the deceptive nature of human memory, and even the concept of time become tools applied to her process of image-making. Nina’s works have been exhibited in Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography (Mestia, Georgia), LC Queisser (Tbilisi, Georgia), E.A. Shared Space (Tbilisi, Georgia), Arco Madrid (Madrid, Spain), PS1 Iowa City, Levitt Gallery UofI (Iowa City, US), Ortega y Gasset Projects (NY,US), Everywoman Biennial (London, UK), Ekru Projects (Kansas City, US).
24/11/2023
#Glimpseingallery - Tamaz Varvaridze (1945) is a Georgian artist. Representative of the 1970s, adhered to the principles of aesthetic-conceptualism. He is distinguished with unique style and credited as the founder of the contemporary Georgian school of graphics. He has played a pivotal role in educating numerous generations of graphic designers and holds the prestigious title of Emeritus Professor at the Tbilisi State Academy of Art. During the Soviet times, the artist mostly created works alien to the ideological context of the Soviet totalitarian era. His artistic pursuit is characterized by the aesthetic organization of composition. Despite the autonomy of individual elements, the artist builds the system united through abstract interconnections and with the utmost economy of compositional elements, creates an internal system that determines the trajectory of contemplation on an abstract and generalized plane. Host of the exhibition: Dimitri Shevardnadze national gallery
24/11/2023
Niko Pirosmani (1862-1918) at the Fondation Beyeler. As a highlight of the year, the Fondation Beyeler devotes an exhibition to the legendary Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani, as much an enigmatic free spirit as an influential precursor of modern art. Almost fanatically admired by art lovers and celebrated as a national treasure in his home country, Pirosmani is yet to be discovered by a wider Western European audience. Bringing together around 50 key works, the exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler is the most comprehensive international show ever devoted to Pirosmani. While Pirosmani’s art radiates spirituality, it also documents and bears testimony to a country at the intersection of the West and the East, and a city, Tbilisi, at the time celebrated as a “Paris of the East”. Renowned contemporary artists Thea Djordjadze and Andro Wekua have been invited to offer their own contributions to the presentation of Pirosmani’s works in Basel. The exhibition is organized by the Fondation Beyeler and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark. It is a cooperation with the Georgian National Museum and the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia, with friendly support of the Infinitart Foundation. Pirosmani’s exhibition will be on show until 28 th January 2024. Music credits: Lili Gegelia “Gamodi”; Shavnabada “Mravaljamier”
24/11/2023
#Glimpseingallery - Leila Shelia’s (ლეილა შელია, b. 1953) solo exhibition is open at ATINATI’S Cultural Center. Leila Shelia is one of the foremost Georgian female abstractionist artists of the 20th century. The exhibition is to a certain extent a retrospective of abstract works executed by the artist over the course of 43 years. The works on display cover every stage of Leila Shelia’s creative period – from the 1980s to the present day. As the artist points out, having been originally inspired by her years spent in Abkhazia, she has been drawing ever since she was a young child. Nature itself possessed an infinite, generalized shape, and through her observations of the forest, the sea, plants and celestial bodies, she began thinking in an abstract way, and this new corporeality and subjectivity were subsequently reflected through her paintings. In Leila Sheila’s artworks, scratches, hieroglyphs, rectangular-framed paintings, and brightly colored spots are all brought together to form a complete harmony. Certain works from ATINATI’S private collection will also be on display at the exhibition. Leila Shelia is an outstanding artist whose works form part of significant collections both locally and worldwide. Leila Shelia’s exhibition will be on show at ATANATI’S Culture Center until November 3, 2023.
24/11/2023
#Glimpseingallery - Ushangi Khumarashvili’s (1948 - 2023) exhibition “WORKS FROM PRIVATE COLLECTIONS” . Ushangi Khumarashvili was born in Telavi. He began working at the Telavi Drama Theater. Studied at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts’ Faculty of Fine Arts. Since the 1970s, he has regularly participated in various exhibitions and international biennials. Ushangi Khumarashvili has never developed ideological images. He primarily creates oil paintings, upholding the traditions of the classic avantgarde. These are abstract depictions of locations, individuals, directions, days of the week, or just colors. Host of the exhibition: Licht Gallery Curated by Alexander Florensky
24/11/2023
Artist in focus • Badri lomsianidze (ბადრი ლომსიანიძე, Kutaisi, Georgia, 1961) is a Georgian artist. After graduating from Kutaísi School of Fine Arts and then Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, Badri Lomsianidze continued his career in Spain. He is a multidisciplinary artist who studied fine arts, namely textile design. The flexibility and elasticity of fabrics allow their natural integration into the artist’s canvases and installations, acquiring a significant physical density, full of meaning. Visual and sensory pleasure is a prerequisite for the artist who develops towards more harmonious working forms and materials: a combination of transparencies, a softer color palette and, above all, the visible presence of fabrics, light and delicate. The use of such heterogeneous resources contributes to the creation of a work characterized by its versatility and technique, in addition to its distinctive and recognizable character. “Metamorphosis” is Badri Lomsianidze’s first solo show held at Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery, which is being held in Georgia for the first time. Artists works are preserved in the museums and various collections worldwide: Modern Art Museum, Oklahoma, USA; Zimmerli Art Museum, New Jersey, USA; AC Foundation; Salamanca Museum; National Museum of Engraving of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art of Madrid; Madrid’s community; McKinsey Collection, Christies London, Springer Publishing, Pilar Citoler Collection
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