Contemporary Istanbul 2019

Presented artists: Maka Batiashvili, Irakli Bugiani, Sopho Chkhikvadze, Keti Kapanadze, Anna K.E., David Meskhi, Maia Naveriani, John Riepenhoff.

For Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair 2019 Project ArtBeat is proud to present a group show. Participating artists: Maka Batiashvili, Irakli Bugiani, Sopho Chkhikvadze, Keti Kapanadze, Anna K.E., David Meskhi, Maia Naveriani, John Riepenhoff.


Maka Batiashili works in painting, book illustration, video art, documentary film. Her inspiration is derived from the moments of mundane reality that usually turn into important visual images. The artist grasps moments from the ordinary situations, which find participants on the verge, where keeping balance is required. Key concept for Maka is a person surrounded with the emotional environment and things, who constantly balances the situation and never crosses the limits.

Colored spots on a neutral background are clearly readable. Processing of simple shapes of the drawings is easily observable. Works are dominated by bright colors and simple compositions. The pictures created with tusche on paper are charged with energy.

Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2018 - Artisterium 2018, Tbilisi History Museum Karvasla, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2017 - Exhibition of Drawings, Moving Gallery by Project ArtBeat, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2015 - Playground, TBC Art Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia; Exhibition of Georgian Painters, Contemporary Art Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; START Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; 2013 - Arundel Gallery, Arundel, UK Nati Gallery, London, UK.


Irakli Bugiani 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.

Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2018 - Project ArtBeat gallery, “Nowhere to Run”, 2017 - Moving Gallery by Project ArtBeat gallery, "Blue Tunel", installation, Telavi, Georgia, 2016-The Georgian National Museum Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery- “To see a World in a Grain of Sand” Tbilisi, Georgia; 2015 - Heritage, RICHMIX Arts Centre, London, UK; 2014 -Crossing the boundaries, AT388, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2013 - Kunstpreis Junger Westen 2013, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, Germany; 2012 - Post Coitum Omne Animal Triste Est, Damenundherren e.V., Dusseldorf, Germany; 2011 - Zwischen Gestern und Morgen, Gallery 10, Karlsruhe, Germany.


Sopho Chkhikvadze mainly works in painting. Her artworks are similar to cuts from real life or films. Sometimes Sopho’s characters are represented in the background of desolate landscape, vast field or sea. This brings mystic and surrealistic mood into the painting. Signs and symbols are often exposed in Chkhikvadze’s paintings, playing an important role in image interpretation.

Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2017 - Winter Exhibition, Compass Gallery, Glasgow, UK; 2016 - Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; 2016 - Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Mall Galleries, London, UK; 2015 START Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; 2009 - 4 thPrague Biennial, Prague, the Czech Republic Museum Montanelli, Prague, the Czech Republic.


Keti Kapanadze was born in Tbilisi in 1962 . While still a student at the Art Academy in Tbilisi, she produced her first conceptual graphical and photo works in 1983, she was the first conceptual artist in Georgia in Soviet times. Since that time her works are part of the permanent exhibition of the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the USSR at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, USA.

From 1990 to 1999 she worked abroad, supported by scholarships from the Sheffield City Polytechnic, the cca Contemporary Art Center, Glasgow, the BAK Swiss Federal Foundation, Berne, and the IAAB Christoph Merian Stiftung, Basel. She also won First Prize in Photography awarded by the “Open Society Georgia” in 1997 in Tbilisi. She was also one of the editors of the Georgian art magazine “Signal” which she helped launch in 1998.

In 2000 Keti left her country for Germany, supported by the Baumann Stiftung. In 2001, she was invited as Visiting Professor for the Painting Class a Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. In 2007 she was awarded a scholarship by Cité des Arts in Paris, Ministry of Science, Research and Culture, Paris, France. Her works are in important European collections, such as Staatsgalerie State Stuttgart, and the Museum Bochum. Today, Keti lives and works in Bonn, Germany.

Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2019 - Nada Art Fair, Miami, Usa; We are just atoms having fun, Gisela Clement Gallery, Bonn, DE; 2018 - 8 minutes, Gallery for contemporary Art, Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, GEO; Hoist the flags, Gallery Project Artbeat, Tbilisi, GEO; 2014 - Genegation 80s, Municipal Gallery of the Arts, Tbilisi, GEO; 2008 - Kaunas in art, Kauno menininku namai-Kaunas Artists’ House, Kaunas, LIT; 1999 - Fata Morgana, Gallery for contemporary Art, Karvasla, Tbilisi, GEO.


Anna K.E. was born in 1986 in Tbilisi, Georgia. K.E. attended the famous Vakhtang Chabukiani classical ballet school from 1995-2000, and in 2000 K.E. moved to Germany. In 2002 at 15 years old K.E. became one of the youngest students ever to attend the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart. In 2004, she moved on to one of the most respected art schools in Germany – the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf – where she received her diploma degree as well as Meisterschülertitel with professors Georg Herold and Christopher Williams in 2010.

During and after her studies Anna K.E. received numerous awards and prizes including the Rotary Club Scholarship 2007; the Audi Art Award 2008 for progressive performance; the ISCP artist residency 2009, NYC; and the Herbert Zapp prize for young art 2012. In 2010 after finishing her studies in Germany K.E. moved to New York to attend the ISCP International Studio & Curatorial Program, with the financial support by the German government (DAAD Scholarship; NRW Travelscholarship; Kunststiftung NRW). Since completing the program, K.E. lives and works in both NYC and Berlin.

Anna K.E. is represented by the New York based Simone Subal Gallery, and has had solo shows there in 2013, 2015 and 2018; and by the Berlin based Galerie Barbara Thumm with solo shows in 2013 and 2015. The galleries regularly exhibit her work at local and international art fairs including Frieze New York, Art Basel Miami, Armory New York, ARCO Madrid, LISTE Basel, and ZONAMACO Mexico, among others.

Anna K.E. had her first institutional solo show at the Queens Museum in 2017, and has also shown at institutions such as The Kitchen, NYC (2015); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara, CA (2015); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta, USA (2015); The Renaissance Society, Chicago, IL, USA (2012); and The III Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow, Russia (2012); Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Germany (2011); Museum K21, Düsseldorf (2010); Cobra Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2009); and Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, Germany (2009).

In 2012 Hatje Cantz published Anna K.E.’s first monograph entitled “A well-to-do man is cruising in his fancy car when a small hen runs out on the road in front…”.


David Meskhi is a photographer based in Berlin, Germany. He was born in 1979 in Tbilisi, Georgia. After gaining a Master’s Degree in Hydro ecology, Meskhi decided to change his profession entirely and turned to art. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Photo Journalism at Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film State University, Tbilisi, Georgia. Since 2004 Meskhi has been working as a photographer and photojournalist for several magazines, and his artworks have been exhibited in Georgia, Germany, France, Austria, Israel, Russia and the UK.

Artist’s camera is always seeking for signs of life. The artworks reflect how photography becomes the instrument to idealize the existence and underline the means for sharing emotional experiences.

Most of Meskhi’s works show concealed layers of adolescent. The artist gets his inspiration from kids and he looks into their own forms of expression. Visually the artworks begin their existence as a set of photographic images, which break the boundaries of time. Meskhi captures young people whose bodies defy the law of gravitation.

Meskhi pursues existentialist ideology in his artworks. His photos represent Meskhi as a photographer and as an individual. Quiet sadness and melancholy oppose optimistic, vivid characters full of joy of life. These characters express idealism and at the same time reflect the feeling of sorrow. This is perhaps the bottom-line of the message the photographer tries to pass on.

Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2018/19 - I DO SPEAK LANDSCAPE, Braunsfelder Family Collection, Cologne, Germany; 2018 - Lara protects me, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; 2018 - Post-Soviet Visions, Calvert 22 Foundation, London, UK; 2017/18 - Golden Boundaries / Youth Culture in Contemporary Photography, Robert Capa; 2011 - IMAGO, Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig (GfZK), Leipzig, Germany; 2011 - Explications 1.2, Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia.


Maia Naveriani studied under Gia Edzgeveradze before completing her formal training at the Academy of Fine Arts, Tbilisi. Having moved to London, in 1989, she was nominated by Annely Juda Fine Art for the the Vordemberger Gildewart Foundation international prize in 1999, which she won.

Since then she has taken part in numerous solo and group exhibitions in both public and commercial spaces including Fordham Gallery, Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London; Neues Kunstforum, Cologne; Museum Wiesbaden; Museum Bochum; Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund; Netwerk, Aalst; Cirius Art Centre, Cork; Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York and CoBra museum, Amsterdam. She also became a member of the group Everything is Alright founded by Gia Edzgeveradze, taking part in many performances in public spaces including Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Museum Bochum, Bochum and Museum Kunst Palatz, Dusseldorf. Maia Naveriani is represented in Germany by Galerie Voss, Dusseldorf.
The artist lives and works in Tbilisi and London.

Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2018 - Untitled Art Fair, Miami, Usa; Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe, Project ArtBeat, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2017 - State of Play, GNM, Tbilisi History Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2016 House of Forward Thinking, Moving Gallery by Project ArtBeat, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2015 - Unwheeled, Danielle Arnaud (with Gia Edzgveradze and Tamara KE), Arnaud Gallery, London, UK; 2011 - Fordham Gallery at Maddox Arts, Maddox Gallery, London, UK; 2008 - At Home with Good Ideas, Galerie Voss, Dusseldorf, Germany; 2004 - What’s the Difference Between Me and You, Galerie Voss, Dusseldorf, Germany.


John Riepenhoff was born in 1982 in Milwaukee, WI where he lives and received a BFA from the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. He is represented by Marlborough Contemporary, NY & London.

Riepenhoff is also a curator and co-owner of The Green Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, collaborator at The Open, co-organizer of Milwaukee International and Dark Fairs, is an inventor of artistic platforms for the expression of others and regular food ideator. His recent exhibitions and curatorial projects have been presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Marlborough, and Swiss Institute New York, NY; Tate Modern, London; Crystal Bridges, Bentonville, AR; 356 Mission Rd, Los Angeles, CA; Poor Farm, WI; Lynden Sculpture Garden, Inova, and The Suburban, Milwaukee, WI; Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN; and Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, GA. He also continues a program of the John Riepenhoff Experience at various locations around the world, most recently at Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA and Misako and Rosen, Tokyo. He was the 2015 Milwaukee Arts Board Artist of the Year, co-chairs Friends of Blue Dress Park, founded Milwaukee's first Beer Endowment for artist-run organizations, runs The Oven at The Open in Milwaukee, and sits on the board of Riverwest Radio.

Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2019 - Handler, Project ArtBeat, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2018 - FRONT INTERNATIONAL, Cleveland, OH; 2017 - Whitney Museum of American Art 'Whitney Bienial', New York, NY; 2016 Marlborough Chelsea, 'Group Show, A Solo Show by John Riepenhoff', New York, NY; 2015 - 'That Attitude is Rude' Green Tea Gallery, Fukushima, Japan; 2014 - Artist Curated Projects 'Amy+John+Amanda' Los Angeles, CA; 2011 - Western Exhibitions 'Handler' , Chicago, IL; 2009 - Angstrom Gallery ‘WALLGASM’, Los Angeles, CA.