Marika Kandelaki

Marika was studying at the same art college (J.Nikoladze, Tbilisi) as myself, Tamar Bochorishvili, Ilona Keil Beruchashvili, Erna Dolmazova, Kristine Kakabadze and others. We studied in the same class, but never had any kind of contact.
As a first year collage student, I never initiated conversations with other students; the following years for me in "Nikoladze" were way more communicative, but by then (1996) Marika already left Georgia for the USA. We missed our opportunity to know each other then, but today via the internet we finally made contact.
Hallelujah to the internet!
Marika Kandelaki was born in 1980, Tbilisi, Georgia. She was born to an artistic family – her father a painter (Vladimir) and her grandfather a designer and cartoonist called Andro Kandelaki, who worked for "Niangi" (political satire magazine in Georgian language, from 1923). [And here I attach Andro Kandelakis book cover, and this is the first creation made by a man to be featured in this blog! Could not restrain myself]



In early 1989 Marikas father left for the US to have an exhibition there. His trip was followed by the collapse of the USSR and he incidentally remained in US.
Meanwhile Perestroika…
Marika described to me this period as probably the most notable in her life (apparently also to most of our generation) – in her own words: that period had hesitant optimism, a hope for a progressive update of the system with a competitive eye on the West…We all wanted to update our values to more glossy possibilities…
After Marika moved to Philadelphia she decided that the glam of fashion industry was the way to go. She was accepted to art school, Moore Collage of Art and Design, where she studied for almost a year, but did not like the place and so she moved to NYC and applied to Parsons School of design where she studied (and graduated in 2003) graphic design and fashion. She felt that both of the departments, especially the graphic department, were too commercial.
After graduation Marika started working for designer Elise Overland designing and hand-making clothes for various "Rock Stars" and celebrities: Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) was her turning point!
…I knew that this is as creative as Fashion world can get, meaning it not formally of course but the idea of it... that, when the bottom line is to sell there can be no truth. If the creativity is dictated by consumer...I mean…

That's where the world is now anyway... so I decided that I HAD to as I always should have done art.Since then I've been developing my vision and direction. And since I did not go through the "fine art" educational bureaucracy I kind of had to find my own path…
Marika started freelancing in the Fashion industry and doing art as sort of free enterprise, and in 2004 she joined the music band "Alex Delivery" providing vocals and percussion. In addition, she made paintings for their album "Star Destroyer" which came out in April.
Since then she has been focusing completely on her art.
From the series"Marble or Gold"

OPEN UP

One-day Exhibition 'OPEN UP' at the Open Air Museum of Ethnography, Tbilisi.
First of June 2009, from 20:00 pm to 23:00 pm .
(painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation, poster)

Participants:
Tamar Melikishvili, Murtaz Shvelidze, Sophia Cherkezishvili, Gia Loria, Maka Batiashvili, Oleg Timchenko, David Alexidze, Misha Shengelia, Kote Sulaberidze, Irina Abzhandadze, Niko Tsetskhladze, Natela Grigalashvili, Guram Tshibakhashvili, Liza Osephaishvili, Irina Kurmaeva, Thea Telia, Marina Ivanishvili, Mamuka Japharidze, Niko Lomashvili, Zurab Nastsvlishvili, Erna Dolmazova , Levan Kakabadze, Nino Sekhniashvili , LIza Epitashvili, Gela Kintsurashvili, Regina Ter-Nersesian, Kakha Burduli, Giorgi Shotadze, Nino Mgaloblishvili and myself (geographically I'm far away, but my latest work will be presented there).
Curator of the exhibition: Alexandra (Matsatso) Gabunia

Nino Tskvitaia

I really accidentally bumped into Nino Tskvitaia's art blog. I was delighted to see that she had such an individual voice: drawings and photographs with a touch of sarcasm in her short posts. We had an interesting correspondence by mail, and she introduced me to her life and artistic education.

Nino Tskvitaia was born in 1983. She started painting and sewing from an early age. Her first art teacher, Tata Bakradze, recommended that she would focus on painting and in 2001 Nino was accepted to the painting department at the State University of Tbilisi. At the same time Nino studied foreign languages and had a job.
After her graduation she went to Bavaria, Germany, where studied German and went to evening classes of model drawing in Nürnberg Academy of Art (Akademie der Bildenden Künste). Soon after she came back to her hometown, where she continues to create her inspiring art.




In our correspondence I asked her some questions regarding her artistic line – here they are in the form of a short interview:

1. What is your primary medium? And how do you combine photography and drawing?
For me the drawing is the main medium and probably it will stay forever the main one. Drawing fills the empty spaces of my soul (each time when it needs to be filled), it makes me happy and excited and I can be depressed or despaired when there are no results. I also love photography; it’s another way of expression.

2. Do you base your portraits on photo reference or models, or is it from thought?
Actually I find the resources for inspiration in almost everything and everywhere. First of all people around me and secondly faces from the photos, especially from old photo shoots. As I am a big movie admirer, I find interesting portraits also in film screens, books and so on and so on.

3. If you had to explain your work to a stranger, how would you do it?
I would say “Hey you! Open up your eyes and see it, you are watching the pieces of one Georgian girl’s life.”
No, probably I would not say it to anybody, I would have it in my mind but say something very, very banal as usual…Maybe what I was feeling when drawing this or that portrait...
Strangers reaction and response is quite important for me.

4. When are you the most productive?
I am most productive probably when I am very busy. In addition I can be productive when I'm too tired, as Art is a cure.

5. Your message to Georgian female artists?
Firstly I can say to myself and then to all Georgian women artists to be more independent, courageous and creative to the maximum.

Maka Batiashvili/Three minutes through the veil dropped by Alexandra Gabunia

FLY AWAY by Sophia Cherkezishvili 2005©CAC

I was introduced first to Sophia Cherkezishvilis works through the Actual Art website. Sophos creations captured my attention and I immediately contacted Alexandra Gabunia from Actual Art and eventually got to Sophia, and posted her art on the Georgian Female Artist's blog.
Sophias diverse artwork is incredibly poetic and so I am very happy to share one of her most powerful videos "Fly Away". In addition, I conducted a short e-mail interview with Sopho to further enlighten us about herself and her art.



1. What was the working process on "Fly Away"? Can you run us through it from the planning of it till the editing?
First of all I had an image in my mind and just after while came the words, then the image in my mind started to move and it became like one painting which is moving and conveying all this text which is very important for me.

2. How do you balance between video, installation and painting?
Mostly I balance through the concept. For me it is much interesting to work in different forms and media, even though the process is so different.

3. How would you explain the message of your film?
"Fly away" is little story of a women, a story that has no end. The symbolic point was probably that every woman wears her own dress like her own destin, and it is the most beautiful dress.

4. How you would describe video art in Georgia and which tendencies are recognizable?
I can not answer this question. Personally I feel that if art is good, then it is good, if not…it's not, and it's the same in Georgia.

5. What has been inspiring for you lately?
Life, life and again life!

"Protect me" by Sophia Cherkezishvili. 2003

Dropped again by Alexandra

"New collection" by Maka Batiashvili

Dropped by Alexandra Matsatso Gabunia

Still life is life

Still life has a long, not always great but interesting history: from ancient Egyptian tombs and Roman wall paintings till expressionism and photorealism.

In the "Academic system" in Georgia still life seems to be the main subject; the study program constantly glorifies the artificial setting, the composition of three dimensional elements, harmony of dead objects and the symbolism in-between the landscape and occasional models.

One of my memories from the Nikoladze Art College is assembling the still life setting in the class. Us students had to bring different objects from home (mostly from the kitchen, to produce an allegorical atmosphere), set them in the middle of the class and draw and/or paint them within two weeks, in hopes of understanding the "composition" and the perspective between the different apples. Sometimes we had to find something do while we waited for Nely, our favorite model.

One of my classmates from college and a dear friend, Tamo (Tamar Botchorishvili from Tbilisi, who really helps me to keep this blog updated) put me in touch with two young and enthusiastic artists, Tutu and Tinatin; they are working in the art field and both of them have a tendency to work in oil painting techniques and still life iconography. I chose to show some of their still life works not just for nostalgic memories from Nikoladze, but of course to show their own talents. I hope that in the future we will show more works by Tutu and Tinatin.

Tutu Kiladze: "Once more still life"

Tinatin Chkhikvishvili: "Apples"

Tutu Kiladze (1980) and Tinatin Chkhikvishvili (1980) graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Art, department of fine art. They participate in different exhibitions in different galleries and exhibition halls in Tbilisi (Qarvasla, Artists' house, N-Gallery etc') and In 2003 they were part of the Art Villa Garikula (residence which promotes and hosts contemporary art, culture festivals and meetings in Kaspi region).

Sophia Cherkezishvili

"One letter" Installation/1997
"Stone" Object/cushion/1998
"Iron words" 1998

Sophia's works are like overloaded personal diaries where we could surmise from poetic images a present feministic voice. The poetic transformation converts one medium into another and produces aesthetic forms, messages and a never-ending inspiration.
In 1990 Sophia graduated from J.Nikoladze Art College and in 1994 from the Tbilisi State Academy of Art. For four years (1994-1998) she studied painting and drawing at Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, then she returned to Georgia and started working actively in the art field in Tbilisi– from teaching at Nikoladze to various exhibitions and projects such as: Open Society Institute, Budapest – “Digital Story”; Gender and Politics in the South Caucasus -“One minute is quite enough to see all life”; Project supported by Mama Cash for Women (The Netherlands) – “Feminine Fantasies”; “Human rights are the part of Georgian Culture” Project supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the IRIS Centre at the University of Maryland; “Why does the grass grow on my head”, The History Museum Tbilisi Georgia and more.

"Nine hours of her life" Installation/1999
"Walking without talking" Wax/1999

Since 2000 Sophia is one of the members of the International Federation of Artists.
I would like to thank Alexandra Matsatso Gabunia (art critic, curator and one of the founders of the Contemporary Art Club) for making this post happen.

Nato Grigalashvili

Landscape

Nato is a young Georgian artist, who was actually in the same class with me in art college. She's considered a follower of romanticism and naturalism. Currently, she's working on a solo exhibition, which will be presented in about a year in Tbilisi. I wish Nato a lot of luck, with hopes of seeing more wilderness in her landscapes.

Catherine Sharashidze

Eka Sharashidze, born in 1972, lives and works as a photo artist in Berlin.
In 1995 Eka graduated from State Academy of Arts, in Tbilisi and the same year moved to Germany.
I heard about Eka from Ralph and his blog GEORGIA & SOUTH CAUCASUS her photo, architectural fragments and collages of buildings from different cities looked unique, minimalistic and of course I was more then interested to show her works in the blog and here they are.



Photo collages, Berlin
Wall people (fragments)

Since 14th of Fabruary in Cité Free Art Gallery in Berlin is Ekas solo exhibition witch will continue till 15th of March 2009 or if you can not visit her solo exhibition here her web page.

Tamar Botchorishvili / New works / Post war dangers

Danger coming from outside a window or from the inside
New birth
Untitled

Kristine Kakabadze

Kristine in her studio
Performance
Architectural Motifs
Landscapes

Tamuna Melikishvili

2003 Installation “Noah’s Arc”
"Make-up table"
"The Battle"

Tamuna Melikishvili (born 1965) is a Georgian artist; an art director for animation films, a video artist and generally one of the most active artists today in Tbilisi.
She has long list of projects and exhibitions - her works were presented in nearly every gallery in Tbilisi, and her installation "Noah's Arc" (shown above), is a part of the collection of the Centre of Modern Art in Moscow.
A few days ago she sent me a text about her painting "The Battle" – here's a fragment from it:
Sometimes epos stands alone from space and time – the story reflected in it could happen in the north, east or west. In the mythology, Caucasus is seen as the place of Prometheus’ punishment. Georgia as well has a mythological-heroic character – a prototype of Prometheus – Amirani. His story exists since before the alphabet, and so his tales were passed from one generation to the next verbally.
The theme of The Battle is persistent in Georgian epos – as a ritual, as good and evil facing each other, as constant activity, as confrontation. This project reflects epos reality – abstract, pseudo historical battle of heroes.

Erna Dolmazova

Portrait
Transformation Forms
From the series of Old Shoes

Erna Dolmazova (1975)
Erna, a Georgian born Armenian artist, was one of my older friends at J.Nikoladze Art College in Tbilisi. Towards the end of Nineties, the school started offering a bachelor's degree: three years of academic studies with a high level of classical painting and drawing. Erna took part of this program (afterwards she was teaching there), and as a college student I was amazed by her techniques and unique personality. She reminded me of Sergo Parajanov's characters from The Color of Pomegranates and Ashik Kerib.
Today there is an empty building of Nikoladze, no art college and no bachelor's degree, only sentiments of generations and a feeling of disappointment.
In 2003 Erna had her first solo exhibition at the famous Art Gallery Sharden (Tbilisi) where she presented her paintings (mostly nude female figure) painted inside the soles of old shoes. She also took part in group exhibitions such as "Female Fantasies" at the N-Gallery; "Actual Dreams" in Carvasla and much more.
Erna is currently collaborating with Actual Art and teaches painting.