Beijing International Art Biennale 2017
Participating artists: Maka Batiashvili, Irakli Bugiani, Vakho Bugadze, George Gagoshidze, Kako Topouria, Levan Mindiashvili, Maia Naveriani, Lado Pochkhua, Beso Uznadze
Maka Batiashvili (B. 1975, Tbilisi, Georgia)
Batiashvili accomplished her Bachelor degree in Fine Art at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 1997 and since then she works in graphical drawing, oil painting, photography and film. Her exuberant work depicts scenes from the everyday. Through the subject matter, Batiashvili poses questions around the existential issues of life and death. In her work the everyday life resembles a playground, where various scenes are being performed. Ostensibly unmediated figures and the intense color scheme in Batiashvili's work share stylistic tendencies with the early modernist painting traditions of Georgia and Europe. Batiashvili's practice is an interesting cross between the traditional and the contemporary painting, developing the well-established tradition of painting popular in the republic of Georgia.
Maka Batiashvili lives and works in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2017 Exhibition of Drawings, Moving Gallery by Project ArtBeat, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2015 – START Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; Playground, TBC Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia; Exhibition of Georgian Painters, Contemporary Art Center, Tel Aviv, Israel; 2013 - Untitled, Arundel Gallery, Arundel, UK; 2012 - Untitled, Industrial Gallery, Ostrava, the Czech Republic; 2011 - Black and White, Tbilisi History Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2008 - OFF EUROPA Festival, Leipzig, Germany; Photography Exhibition, National Museum, Atlanta, USA.
Irakli Bugiani (B. 1980, Tbilisi, Georgia)
Bugiani accomplished his studies in Fine Art at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 2001. Since then he studied at Ecole des Beux Arts in Rouen, France, at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe, Germany and received MA in Art History at the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany in 2010.
Bugiani works in painting and collage. His works depict interiors and exteriors of architecture empty of human presence. The abstract imagery composed with rough strokes of oil on canvas combined with application, leave an impression of the yet unfinished work in process. The impressionistic landscapes, seascapes and washed out portraits compose the exploration into the fictional and the historical facts of one's memory. The combination of the subject matter and the working style evoke an unsettling ambiguity.
Irakli Bugiani lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2016 - To See a World in a Grain of Sand, organized by Project ArtBeat, GNM, Georgian National Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia. 2015- Ausstellungseröffnung: 191°S, WELTKUNSTZIMMER, Dusseldorf, Germany; Kunstpunkte 2015, Dusseldorf, Germany; 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.
Vakho Bugadze (B. 1964 Tbilisi, Georgia)
Vakho Bugadze works in different media such as painting, drawing and sculpture. Artist takes inspiration from his immediate surroundings, the places where he spent his entire life. He paints old Tbilisi and hippodrome. The real locations of his works and their mythology somehow become interconnected. One of the most important factors for Vakho is intimae in reference with certain topos, environment as well as with the human body. In this regard his experience of a sculptor is important – the plasticity and intimacy of the body makes a hint to his first working media.
George Gagoshidze (B. 1983, Tbilisi, Georgia)
Gagoshidze works in mediums such as painting and drawing. His works are inspired by the mountainous landscapes, the environment in which the artist grew up. In the works of his series: Abastumani and From the veranda of the studio the image of an actual environment is generalized and drawn close to abstraction. Nowadays the artist paints a line between abstraction and landscape. Contrasting colored spots on the surface with rhythmically arranged interplay of lines and planes provoke in the viewer the association of the rounded hills; but, sometimes are simply seen as abstract shapes, or an aesthetic combination.
George Gagoshidze lives and works in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2016 - Baia Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2015 - Inner Mountains, UŽUPIS ART INCUBATOR, Galera, Vilnius, Lithuania; 2012 - Vernissage Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2010 - Open Gallery, Open Society Georgia Foundation, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2009 - Vernissage Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2007 - Vernissage Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia.
Kako Topouria (B. 1960 Tbilisi, Georgia)
Kako Topouria studied art history at the University and started practicing painting independently during the first years of studies. It was the artist's personal experience that played a large role in his formation as an artist. He works in painting, sculpture, drawing, and textile and, also in landscape design. The artist's sculptural works are mainly grouped according the materials used. Metal, wood, paper mache and concrete give different textures and characters to his sculptures. Cheerful bright colors of paintings are more often oil, acrylic, gauche based. He mainly paints portraits, animals and landscapes. Human figures and animals are simplified to the highest degree possible. Thick contour outlines the united spots. The pictures are often resembled to child drawings or decorative tapestries on which featured characters are moved to a much larger format. The titles provoke certain associations, however, they do not imply a particular story - the artist gives the viewer freedom to interpret his works.
Levan Mindiashvili (B. 1979, Tbilisi, Georgia)
His artistic research covers topics such as memory and identity - the issues actual in today's post-Soviet culture of Georgia, where the artist was born. Yet the central axis to his works remains the relationship between the private and the public, while questioning the subject/object dichotomies. The series of works presented at Boundaries, create a dialogue between one's most intimate physical spaces and the exteriors of architecture of the suburban New York in fragments.
Levan Mindiashvili lives and works in New York, USA.
Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2017 Here organized by Project ArtBeat, GNM, Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography,Mestia, Georgia, 2017 - Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE; 2016 - (extra)ordinary, the Hollows, New, York, USA; Aesthetics of Repair in Contemporary Georgia, Tartu Art Museum, Tartu, Estonia, 2015-Structures, The Manny Cantor Center, New York, USA; KIOSK, Odetta Gallery, New York, USA; Suites for Unintended Archeology, the Vazquez Building, New York, USA; 2015 - Heritage, RICHMIX Arts Centre, London, UK; 2014 - Borderlines, the Lodge Gallery, New York, USA; 2014 - Crossing the Boundaries.03, AT388, Rotterdam, Netherlands; 2013 - Urban Identities, Kunstraub99 Art Gallery, Cologne, Germany; 2011 - Movistar Arte Joven 2011, Borges Cultural Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Maia Naveriani (B. 1966, Tbilis, 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.
Lado Pochkhua (B. 1970) based in New York, USA.
Lado Pochkhua is a Georgian artist who lives and works in New York. Pochkhua graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts with a Master’s degree in Painting and Printmaking in 2001. Since then, he has lived and worked in different countries such as: Georgia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Hungary and the United States. Pochkua has been gaining academic knowledge for years. He has been interested in the experience and style of classic painters. Different periods of his work were dedicated to practicing new techniques and media. The artist uses a technique of hand drawing, works in pen and ink often on a large-format. Presentation of classical images and style in new formats is a subject of his interest.
Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2015- Discover Georgia in New York, Chelsea Market, New York, USA; 2013- Artisterium, Georgian National Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia; Random Sample, Inaugural Exhibition of Brooklyn Box Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA; 2012- Artisterium, National Parliamentary Library of Georgia, Tbilisi Georgia; 2010- Future Seeking Memories, Lecture and solo show, Assumption College, Worcester, MA, USA; 2009- Extended Painting: Prague Biennale IV, Georgia Pavillion, Prague Czech Republic; 2008- Gardens, Ships and Lessons, K. Petrys Ház Gallery, Budapest, Hungary; Exhibition of Georgian Artists, Festival OFF EUROPA ditorei Gallerie NBL, Leipzig, Germany; 2003- Curriculum Vitae: a retrospective of 20th century Georgian art, Tbilisi History Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia.
Beso Uznadze (B. 1968, Tbilisi, Georgia)
Uznadze, mostly works on photo portraits, reportage and through thematic photo series. He takes his inspiration from ordinary feelings and incidents which make up daily life: melancholy, happiness, love, separation, sex, fear and death. Uznadze's work is dominated in particular by portraits of people whom he has encountered in his immediate surroundings. Through them he narrates their stories, dreams and fears. To date his photo series include: 2B, In the Mood for Love, Don’t Wake Me, Tbilisi Portraits, Georgians in the UK, Broadway Market.
Beso Uznadze lives and works London, UK.
Selected solo and group exhibitions:
2017 Forgotten Vistas, Moving Gallery by Project ArtBeat, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2016 START Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK,. 2016 KONTAKTPHOTOS, Black & White Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2015 Un Homme, Chapitre III, Galerie Hors-Champs, Paris, France; 2014 Artisterium, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2011 Tbilisi photo Festival, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2011 Les Rencontres De La Photographie, Arles, France; 2010 Artisterium, Tbilisi, Georgia; 2009 The International Festival of Photography, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy; 2008 Taylor-Wessing Photographic Competition, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; 2004 Schweppes Photographic Competition, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK.