Tbilisi Art Fair 2024
Presented artists: Irakli Bugiani, Brian Griffin, Mamuka Japharidze, Nika Kutateladze, Avto Meskhi, Gio Sumbadze and Beso Uznadze.
At Tbilisi Art Fair 2024, Gallery Artbeat presents a group exhibition that brings together artists from different generations and working in diverse mediums: Irakli Bugiani, Brian Griffin, Mamuka Japharidze, Nika Kutateladze, Avto Meskhi, Gio Sumbadze and Beso Uznadze.
The selected works for the exhibition directly or indirectly address the changing and multi-layered historical, political, and cultural transformations of the local space. Overall, the exhibition unveils the invisible processes that have been unfolding in the local context for a considerable time, particularly since the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Initially, there is an aspiration to reassess the evolving historical, urban, and architectural contexts and present them from various perspectives.
The viewer navigates through the presented works amidst transitional and historical events. Mamuka Japaridze's painting, depicting the renowned brand 'ROLEX', perfectly encapsulates the context of the90s. Adorned with luxurious twelve-pointers and a clock logo, the painting exudes a pompous and emphatic irony, serving as a symbol of commercialized authenticity. The word ‘ROLEX’, functioning as a rhyming element, transitions into a new poetic-conceptual context, successfully breaking free from conventional constraints through wordplay. To a certain extent, the showcased work reflectsthe economic myths and social order of the aforementioned period.
Amidst this tumultuous political landscape, British photographer Brian Griffin emerges, transcending the given context and presenting the local space from a different perspective. Griffin created a photo series for Comme des Garcons featuring the local population in a Kakhetivillage during his visit to Georgia. The primary inspiration for this project was Niko Pirosman, and the concept combined Rei Kawakubo's clothing with the local residents' dressing style.
A significant part of the exposition is dedicated to the works of Georgian non-conformist artist Avto Meskhi. In his collages, Meskhi integrates photos and texts, juxtaposing politics, rituals, pop culture, and pornographic images. Overall, the artist presents the existing system in an absurd manner.
Following this, the architectural and urban contexts of the Soviet era are actively reconsidered in Irakli Bugiani'spaintings.
Gio Sumbadze's works concentrate on the architecture of Tbilisi and repeat archetypal forms. As the artist explains, his works serve as typological documentation of architecture, time, and space.
In contrast, Nika Kutateladze's artworks appear to be entirely detached from architectural contexts, presenting his subjects deep within nature. Nonetheless, even in these works, elements characteristic of urban space can be discerned.
Beso Uznadze's large-scale, colorful, abstract, and expressive paintings are exhibited alongside, each preceded by a complex interplay of subtexts and emotional backgrounds that define his creative context, encompassing themes such as migration, identity issues, and acute political and social situations.
Irakli Bugiani (b. in 1980, Tbilisi) mainly works in painting. He also refers to the techniques of collage. For the pictures he uses old and new photos, texts about the events happening around him for example in social, scientific, political situations. The process itself and its visibility on the canvas is very important for the artist. His works depict interiors and exteriors of architecture empty of human presence. The abstract imagery composed with rough strokes of oil on canvas leave an impression of the yet unfinished work in process. The artist deliberately leaves fragments of working process on the canvas as if the artworks are endless. The impressionistic 'unfinished' seascapes, washed out portraits and collages of fragmented imagery compose the exploration into the boundaries of fiction and historical fact of one's memory.
Brian Griffin (1948-2024) was a British photographer. He worked in London. His portraits of 1980s pop musicians lead to him being named the ‘photographer of the decade’ by The Guardian in 1989. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Arts Council, British Council, Victoria and Albert Museum and National Portrait Gallery, London. His work appeared on Depeche Mode's ‘A Broken Frame’ album cover and was also used by ‘Life’ magazine on its front cover of a special supplement ‘The Greatest Photographs of the 80’s’
Mamuka Japharidze (b. in 1962, Tbilisi) lives and works in Tbilisi and UK. The medium of his works changes according to the context and environment and includes: happenings, collections of objects and images, video projections, photography, linguistic games, drawings, sound design, prints, photo archives collected over a long period of time…
Since 1987, Mamuka Japharidze has been working on conceptual projects. ARTRA was presented at the Georgian Pavilion, the 48th Venice Biennale, 1999. In the same year a video projection, Eye Trees was presented in Atlanta. The artist’s works were exhibited at Georgian National Museum several times, including Reframing the 80s in 2012 and Re:Museum in 2014. With the works by other Georgian artists, Mamuka Japharidze’s installation was featured at the exhibition Beyond Credit at Art in General, in New York.
Nika Kutateladze is a Georgian contemporary artist born in 1989 in Tbilisi, Georgia. He currently resides and works in both Georgia and France. With a profound passion for artistic expression, he embarked on his creative journey by enrolling on the faculty of Architecture at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 2007. Deepening his artistic education, Kutateladze pursued an informal master's course at the Centre of Contemporary Art in Tbilisi (CCA-T) in 2013.
Kutateladze's artistic practice primarily revolves around installations, sculptures, and recently also paintings that intricately explore the multifaceted dimensions of day-to-day consumerism and environmental issues. His artworks serve as profound reflections on the transformative processes of architectural spaces and the urban environment as a whole. Through his creative lens, Kutateladze delves into the complexities of migration and how socio-economic conditions manifest in both architecture and daily life. His thought-provoking and poetic symbolic interpretations offer viewers an opportunity for introspection and dialogue.
Throughout his career, Nika Kutateladze has garnered international recognition through his participation in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His works have been showcased at esteemed venues both in Georgia and outside. Notable exhibitions include 'My Neighbour is a House' at Artbeat Tbilisi, Georgia (2023), 'The way we live together' at VITRINE Bermondsey, London, UK (2023), 'Tariel is Getting Ready for Hibernation' at Artbeat, Tbilisi, Georgia (2021), 'Metamorphosis- Art in Europe Now’ at ‘Fondation Cartier', Paris, France (2019), and 'To Protect My House While I'm Away' at the Tbilisi Architectural Biennial, Tbilisi, Georgia (2018).
Avto Meskhi (b. 1946, Tbilisi) began painting in his childhood and attended art lessons. He continued his studies at the I. Nikoladze Art School in the class led by Ketevan Maghalashvili. During the Soviet Period, Meskhi worked as an ‘unofficial’ underground artist. His internal protest against the political establishment at that time was sharp, leading to his formation as a non-conformist. At the age of 13-14, he befriended Avto Varazi and became acquainted with Western art. It was during this time that Meskhi was introduced to the works of Picasso, Mondrian, Malevich, and other artists. While maintaining friendships with his contemporaries, Meskhi's works bear an individual signature and are markedly distinct even from other non-conformists of the Soviet period.
Gio Sumbadze (b. in 1976, Tbilisi) is a multimedia artist. He works in photography and has video works/installations. In addition, he makes graphic design. His artworks focus on architecture and structure of the nature as well as on the architectural planning which sometimes repeats shades of the nature and even confronts them. As he says his “artworks are typological documentations of space and time”. The artist takes feedback from who/what gets into his lens. This is the main source of inspiration for him.
Gio Sumbadze has been participating in the art projects in Georgia and out of the country since 1990s. He cooperates with Georgian and foreign curators and artists. In 2013 Gio Sumbadze represented Georgia at the 55th Venice Art Biennale. Architectural project “Kamikadze Loggia” was inspired by informal architecture in Tbilisi.
Gio Sumbadze is a member of an artistic group GOSLAB in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Beso Uznadze’s (b. 1968, Tbilisi) artistic oeuvre started as a portrait photographer. With his photos the artist managed to depict personalities of his sitters, showing both their vulnerability and strength. The viewer was able to sense the invisible connection between him and his models and become part of the dialogue, which occurred during the photo shoot.
In 2016 Uznadze started working for him in a totally new medium. His latest works are abstract, large-scale paintings. These abstractions can be interpreted as a replication of a certain style, but their authenticity guarantees a specific context and a high degree of individualism of the artist. The dynamics and internal organizations of these compositions are made with the connections of monotonous or angular and round shapes using a mechanic movement. Similarly to his photos Uznadze manages to have an invisible link with his paintings. The artist manages to project his emotional vulnerability to the canvas, which becomes reachable for the viewer when observing his paintings. Being it photography or painting, the artist uses the creative process for all the same purpose, freeing himself from the content and getting lost.