Riga Contemporary 2025
Presented artists: Irakli Bugiani and Gio Sumbadze
Gallery Artbeat is pleased to present Georgian artists Gio Sumbadze and Irakli Bugiani at the Riga Contemporary Art Fair. The event is organized by Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, a member of the NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) network, and is held in collaboration with the Riga City Council.
Gio Sumbadze presents a selection of photographic works from his series Echoes and Arche-tecture, offering a visual exploration of memory, architecture, and the urban environment.
In Echoes, Sumbadze captures the haunting remnants of Soviet-era sanatoriums and public buildings in Tskaltubo. These faded structures—decorative ceilings, abandoned halls, and crumbling facades—evoke the distinct aesthetic of Soviet architecture. The series serves as a quiet archaeology, drawing attention to the layered histories embedded in walls, thresholds, and forgotten corridors. In contrast, Arche-tecture turns its lens toward the structural vocabulary of Tbilisi’s urban landscape. Based on photographs of corners of Tbilisi buildings, the series focuses on the geometric intersections of balconies, eaves, and architectural joints. Through this exploration, Sumbadze constructs a visual language of urban archetypes.
In his latest body of work, Düsseldorf-based artist Irakli Bugiani explores the tension between the natural and industrial worlds. His paintings emphasize the impact of man-made artifacts while blending the unreal with the real, offering a dimensional shift in how we perceive our surroundings. Bugiani conjures dreamlike, at times psychedelic scenes that blur the boundaries of place—oscillating between the familiar and the abstract. His expressive brushwork and vivid color palette infuse the landscapes with emotional resonance. Sunsets glow in pinks and ochres, architectural forms melt into shadows, and solitary trees stand as silent witnesses to time’s passage. From cityscapes and factories to clouds and quiet suburban homes, Bugiani’s compositions are rooted in observation but filtered through an introspective lens—rendering reality as something poetic and cinematic.
Irakli Bugiani (Bugianishvili, b. in 1980, Tbilisi) is a contemporary artist, who is currently based in Düsseldorf, Germany. He embarked on his artistic journey by attending the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts from 1998 to 2001, followed by further studies at the Karlsruhe State Academy of Fine Arts in Germany from 2001 to 2006. He furthered his academic pursuits with an MFA in Art History from Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf.
Bugiani's body of work primarily consists of oil paintings that highlight his artistic prowess and unique vision, showcasing vividly expressive and psychedelic characters that serve as a testament to his mastery in wielding color and dynamic brushstrokes. His artworks depict the struggle between the natural and the man-made world, emphasizing the influence of industrial artifacts. In Bugiani's paintings, the unreal takes on the appearance of the real, offering a dimensional shift and a fresh perspective on our perception of the world. He employs rough and expressive brushstrokes to create a world that exists in the realm of the intangible, where dreams and danger coexist. Bugiani's creative methodology revolves around intentionally juxtaposing fragmented elements derived from diverse artistic processes, involving the deliberate arrangement of these fragments to create collage-like structures. His paintings take viewers on a meditative journey, enabling them to explore different dimensions and realities.
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.