David Kukhalashvili

'The mere aspiration of an artist has to be improving the world and without the protest this can not be achieved'- tells me David Kukhalishvili while I intrude into his home studio. 'I protest against us not being a country'- and fair enough, the points Kukhalashvili raises in his art paint quite a grim and accurate reality of the country.‘I try to create art that will be readable to everyone, I don't want it to be exclusive for artists and art historians, I want to reach everyone from the market sellers to the elite.’


Perceiving Neo-Socialism as the only adequate and promising future for the humanity, Kukhalashvili’s art is in direct dialogue with the daily realities of Georgia. His photo series Not Working, of the blanked out buildings- the institutions that do not function for him is one of the vivid examples. The building of the Public Broadcaster, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Patriarchy, the City Hall, the President’s palace, the Supreme Court-all of them make up the list. Each of these edifices refers to specific events and decisions that the artist disapproves of; Kukhalashvili did not like the priests sabotaging anti-homophobic demonstration. The Ministry of Internal Affairs got wiped out when the students protesting the inhumane labor code got arrested. The National Gallery is included because of neglecting the contemporary artists and rotating around the same names. Some of the newly built buildings, acting as the visiting cards for the President Saakashvili are also portrayed as white silhouettes- discontent with their inadequacy towards the surroundings- most of these buildings are squished into the old part of Tbilisi, ruining the historical vista.

 

  

The aesthetics of graphic design might be the only imprint of the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts on Kukhalishvili's oeuvre (where he attended graphic design classes), which is also included in his list of white buildings. Arguably the academy would not approve of such bold thinking and expressing on canvas.

Working in series as most of the Georgian artists of his period, the ideas spread on couple of canvases do indeed convey the message more precisely. One of them is about the almost terrifying rate of women who sneak out of the country in order to work illegally in the West and support their families from there. In recent years the theme became the focus of many Georgian artists opening up in the documentary Women from Georgia by Koguashvili, who might even be the first to see it as a social problem rather than a couple of coincidences. Kukhalashvili has also created interesting canvases. The busses as the main transport for departing are heading towards the map of Europe coloured in pink personifying the hopes and expectations of these women whose planed stay of maximum 5 years usually exceeds to forever as the families left never manage to save up or start working. The same pink continent acts as a background for the cars, which presumably symbolise the cars the families left in Georgia buy from the money sent.

Evidently, Kukhalashvili puts a lot of thought is in his colour choices, in harmony with their symbolism. The series with black backgrounds that engulf the central objects convey certain things about Georgia. One of the most striking from the series is a pink bus stop stuck in the middle of nowhere. From the inside it is adorned with different flags; this is Georgia stuck in constant mode of optimistic waiting for the other countries to help. Trapped in the middle of nowhere, all the dreams, ambitions, aspirations and generally the lifestyle seems so inadequate and distanced to the much-desired Europe.

There is a central rubbish bin with a halo taking the stage of noble subjects, of saints and kings. The artist explains: ‘for many the rubbish bins are the only source of food. There is a hierarchy among these people and every area has its own owner. For them these rubbish bins are sacred.’

The other objects seemingly mundane and unworthy of canvas space are the hospital beds, which turns out is a critique of the indifference most of the doctors have towards the patients. If they are not paid in advance they easily let the patients die, so if you are the lucky one affording to pay the fees-signified by the red ropes around and the balloons are to hint- this has to be celebrated. ‘If you get to the hospital you are a VIP’ says the artist without a hint of sarcasm.

Kukhalashvili keeping a close eye on the news would not let the political situation slide out of his all-criticising canvases. However, he has found a very unusual form for this. He presents politics as the playground- especially relevant for the country as Georgia where the same faces adjust to the seemingly irrelevant positions- Dimitri Shashkin being the Minister of Justice, then Minister of Education and then Minister of Defence or Irakli Okruashvili who started out as the Minister of Internal Affairs, moving to being the Minister of Defence and then to the Minister of Agriculture. In a country as such the politics resembles a game and the politicians seem to be playing and having fun rather than working for a country. This feeling is intensified with the regime of constant elections, whose winner was known in advance for quite some time. Due to the corruption and the inexistent alternatives, the National Movement party used to be the ultimate winner. Kukhalashvili translated these conditions in the football fields and tennis courts where it is impossible to score on one of the sides. In general Kukhalashvili is not satisfied with the politicians of today and says they do not feel the responsibility as to why they are getting paid by the people. His protest against these individuals is expressed in the void facades of the government offices, leaving the sensation of emptiness as it is not inhibited by humans that do not work for humans. 'I believe in a society forcing them to work for people. I want to provoke  protest in the society with my art rather than awakening the sense of responsibility in these officials.’

At present the artist works on the project Geomemory revolving around the central square in the hometown of Tbilisi. During the Communist regime, there was a statue of Lenin, the unstable 90s saw the square empty, an epicentre of the Civil War, it was renamed into the Freedom Square. When Mikheil Saakashvili came to power he installed a sculpture of the Saint George.

‘I decided to convey my message in style of cube-futurism, which in itself was motivated by the Marxist thought, they believed work would lead humans to happiness, there would be no wars; doomed for failure it was a fairytale they believed in. All of it reminded of the times we lived in, the way Akaki and Ilia believed that Iveria would shine, ironically the school behind them was burnt on the way to enlightenment'. The language of cube-futurism is the leitmotiv of these three canvases; the Communist Tbilisi, anarchic 90s and the Rose Revolution.

The formalism of the first and the last canvases is quite similar, according to Kukhalashvili this signifies the similarities in governing- the totalitarian regimes.

For more of Kukhalashvili's art visit: https://www.facebook.com/daviti.kukhalashvili?fref=ts

Giorgi Xaniashvili

Giorgi Xaniashvili’s art is most likely to shock the Georgian audience, even if the artist does not see it as his ultimate goal. The society where religion is as prevalent as it is in here, finds it hard to accept the harsh truth of Xaniashvili’s art.

‘I am not trying to preach moral codes; I just don’t like the influences and attitudes that are dominant in today’s society. I find them comical.The values that are wrapped in a way that is appealing to the society and that they cherish, whereas in reality it turns out that the Kinto is a homosexual and the society does not want to believe in it, they like the dance so they ignore it.

My aim is to declare the situation, present it in its most extreme form- so that it becomes more visible and leaves no one indifferent.’Declaring no interest for the Nature-mortes that seem to flood Georgian art, he still sees the place for the subject matter.

Xaniashvili’s art does share feminist thought protesting against the objectification of women and their apprehension as one’s property. In a society where female solidarity is non-existent it is astonishing to find a male artist thinking in this way. Protesting against the gender stereotypes, he realises the depth of these implications, trying to distance himself, he catches these influences in his thinking too.The artist continues the theme of masculinity and boldly criticises our perception of a ‘successful man’- with an expensive car, donating money to the church and owning a woman.

Working in comics continuum, Khaniashvili builds the narratives around the subjects such as the fetishizing of boys. Having a baby boy is still seen as one of the great achievements of a woman- a boy as a future of the name, the genetics, the family and the tradition.  The cartoon culminates in the son having oral sex with the father, cutting deep into and pointing at the paranoia of the society. For a country with an appalling rate of gender-specific abortion (when the mother decides to abort the pregnancy in case of having a girl) it is vital to highlight the absurdity of the situation.

Nowadays, the subject of homosexuality is one of the most debated issues in Georgia. Xanianshvili decided to summarise the society’s perception of these people-notably portraying the main hero as a man, as in Georgia homosexuality is almost always associated with men (the anxiety towards the male sexuality and even in here women are omitted) with the rabbit ears, the priest on the other hand is trying to protect his carrots and chases the rabbit away.

All of his drawings act as sketches for the sculptures either in wood or plaster. His future plans are to create the series of pseudo-decorative multicoloured porcelain sculptures, which will resemble the ones the soviet housewives have been obsessed with, but with an ironical twist so characteristic to the artist. The gay rabbit with a mobster priest are already in plaster waiting to be painted.

Khaniashvili works a lot with the material of wood; preferring it for its adaptable quality, the artist exploits the material creating the headless animals connected to each other as a symbol of the human interconnectedness. His most mature work so far is also in wood; the duo of a Venus and an Archangel offers a coexistence of the mythological and the contemporary, dead and very alive, mobile and static, flexible and rigid.

 

When working on the iconography of a Venus, the artist draws parallels to the figure of the Christ: ‘in the nutshell, Christ is also a mythological figure, but in comparison to Venus, this mythological figure is still alive and has not lost his relevance.' The goddess Venus is dead, but still personifying the module of beauty; Xaniashvili’s Venus tries to capture our contemporary perceptions of beauty and perfection. The hybrid of the goddess and the near-to-anorexia body tell so much of today’s society.

In our religion, the archangel is never depicted in 3-dimensions; the chronological development of the Orthodox Christianity seems to be the motive of the work. The figure of the archangel creates a contrast to the one of the Venus; the Goddess’s body follows the anatomical build up of a human, whereas the archangel’s body is smooth and sexless, even the joints are immobile. The heads of both sculptures are quite precise copies of the more known iconography, Xaniashvili creates the gods and saints of XXI century if you like.

Ironically enough the artist often gets commissions from the Church; for example a statue for the Catholic Church of Tbilisi. Then he creates cartoons about his working process. The main agenda is the objectification of something sacred, which equates to scandal in a society of Tbilisi; it is not surprising that the Facebook comments are often disapproving. It is peculiar how Xaniashvili and many of his contemporaries use Facebook as their online galleries, acting like the agents of themselves; you can view their art, contact them and even buy it from Facebook. For Xaniashvili religion is an object and funny enough a way of income. The climax of such relationship takes place on the last part of the comics; after taking the money for the work, the artist kisses the cross- ‘paying the dues’ as he calls it.

 

He analyses the religion coming out of the everyday context, how religion intervenes and is intertwined with the everyday living in Georgia, rather than criticising the religion itself, Xaniashvili claims to criticise these influences. The grim and grotesque imagery does translate the everyday living into art with the anatomical precision, no aestheticism involved. 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/giorgi.xaniashvili?fref=ts

Tamara Kvesitadze at Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin

"From 25 May until 10 August, Galerie Kornfeld will show Tamara Kvesitadze (b 1968) for the first time in Germany. The exhibition RED is a new group of works that was uniquely developed for presentation in Berlin. Tamara Kvesitadze counts among the most important Georgian artists of the present day. After her work was shown in a group exhibition at the Georgian pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale, Tamara Kvesitadze had the honor of representing Georgia with a highly successful solo exhibition at the 2011 Biennale. Tamara Kvesitadze’s work includes kinetic sculptures and paintings, wherein the human being plays an essential role. The tension in the relationship between genders is a main focus of her œuvre. Its roots lie in antiquity and mythology as well as in surrealism. Violence and sexuality are intertwined. Faces, masks and fragmented bodies symbolize the internal conflict of modern individuals, their emotions, their strive for happiness and fulfillment, their fears and hopes. Questions about individuality are raised, and the relationships between the individual and society and fellow humans are examined.

Movement is an important feature in Tamara Kvesitadze’s sculptures. During the 1980s she studied architecture at the Georgian Technical University in Tbilisi, and soon began to create works that successfully combined art and construction.

Yet her primary concern was not the representation of movement using the resources of contemporary sculpture; her interest in movement is far more comprehensive. “I was always interested in Greek philosophy and especially the

aphorisms of Heraclitus,” she says. “According to him, everything is in flux and one can never enter the same river twice, as it is in constant motion. Given that sculpture is not typically linked to movement, I became more and more interested inexperimenting with this idea in my practice." Tilman Treusch, Galerie Kornfeld

The newest history of Georgia in Mediagraffiti

GIORGI TABATADZE

For countries with Soviet background mosaics in public spaces are not alien occurrences. However, Giorgi Tabatadze references his evolvement with the media back to the Christian roots, when the vital iconography was depicted through it. Rather than personifying the hymns to Communist workers, mosaics by Tabatadze revolve around the Georgian news programs. 

'Main object of my investigation was media, but my aim was not to “study Georgian media”, rather to look through this lens into the mechanics of socio-political or cultural reality of our society. Neither was my aim to analyse political discourse.'The selection of the images sharing the unusual titles are dispersed around the hometown of Tbilisi in a seemingly random locations.

CENTRE AND PERIPHERY

Center and Periphery is a mosaic depicting the very moment when an iconic sculpture of the King David was being moved from the centre of the city to the outskirts of Tbilisi, to be installed on the highway. The event was greatly protested by the intellectuals of the city, perceiving it as a great assault. Unfortunately, the monument remains in Dighomi. 

'Creation of the new by itself is already quite a violent act; it is an act of violence towards the already existing. The traces of this violence are quite visible in our public spaces, especially in the vital parts of the city.'

 IMPOSSIBLE TRAJECTORY

The theme of disrespecting the historical monuments is further portrayed in the mosaic called the Impossible Trajectory. The image is taken from the reportage of the Soviet monument (dedicated to the heroes of the Second World War) being blown up, causing the death of two people. 

'Visually it looked like a “take off” of the cosmic shuttle, but one with an impossible trajectory to achieve.The mosaic is called the Impossible Trajectory because our desire to shoot this monument away from our public space, erase it from our collective memory is an impossible task.'

The trend of forgetting, even erasing the Soviet past  in an attempt to move forward prevails the country. This anxiety was expressed most vividly in destroying monuments and buildings. However, precisely this historical amnesia does not allow the country to evolve.

E=MC2

The Blind Peoples Union annual congress making the headlines became worthy of Tabatadze's attention too. The meeting which turned into a violent fight among the blind people was to focus on a solution regarding the soviet heritage the union had inherited. The artist draws parallels between this event and the Rose Revolution.

'Interestingly, the event replicates the structure of the bigger event that had happened earlier, namely the Rose Revolution. It shows how bigger political event has caused ripple effect even is such marginal social group as blind people. After such a long period of a social and political stagnation suddenly in 2003 we saw the burst of energy released after the Rose Revolution. Almost all these materials are violent, but this violence comes from the place where this energy still doesn't know how to transform into positive solutions, how to find constructive ways of changing things and then it finds its release in violence.'

SUN

The mosaic depicts a detail of the Technical University of Batumi, a high-rise building with a  Ferris Wheel built into it- supposedly rotating restaurant. Tabatadze found the contradictory functions of the building quite peculiar, even if the news material was not significant at all. For the artist this illogical, confusing and contradicting hybrid personifies the time it was created in. 

SPLINE LINE

The Spline Line according to Tabatadze depicts the symbolic change in the ruling of the now previous government. 'It was a symbolic gesture representing and stating a new contract, new rhythm and clear break with the old perception of the ineffective governance towards very aggressive, very active and dynamic style of governance.'

The actual image is from the news about the operation dedicated to capturing the priest who was abusing the religious minorities. The police was breaking the church door by smashing a car into it-'a symbolic act that represented the character and tendency of the new post Rose-revolution political discourse in our country that would last for almost a decade.'

Working closely with the social reality of his surroundings, Tabatadze describes his practice as such:

'My artistic practice pretty much deals with difficult job of incorporating this sort of "ready made" contexts and materials into the interpretations and translations I make of them. I'm trying to incorporate their original context or historical actuality into my work and process of thinking. Right now information that is available for us is overwhelming making it almost impossible to digest, but at least trying to draw the map where exactly and which kind of cultural body we live in is possible I think.'


Visit the personal site of Giorgi Tabatadze: http://gtabatadze.com/index.html