for contemporary istanbul
Mariam Akhobadze (b.1990) is a young painter. She graduated from the Faculty of Restoration at the Tbilisi State Academy of the Fine Arts, and then received a master's degree in fine arts (2007-2015). Mariam mainly works in figurative painting. With a well-trained hand in academic painting, she creates mesmerizing psychological portraits.Mariam’s paintings often depict her surroundings - friends, relatives, the interior of her studio, but the way she builds her compositions, grants a special intensity to her works.
Mariam's works have been exhibited in Georgia, including her duo exhibition "Delicate Dilemmas" at The Why Not gallery, solo exhibition 'Ordinary Life' at the Tbilisi History Museum, Georgian National Museum(2021) and group shows abroad, including in Poland, Israel, Italy and Armenia.
Mariam Aqubardia (b. 1991, Gali) graduated from the Faculty of Painting at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (2013 BA, 2017 MA). As she describes, all of her artworks are about Abkhazia and her memories of the home she had to flee as a result of the Abkhazian Conflict (1993-1994). The hardest and most difficult feelings and experiences are painted in calm, foggy melancholy and discuss the topics of home, displacement, and questions of belonging.
Mariam’s works have been exhibited in Georgia and abroad, including the exhibition supported by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, 2020, Tbilisi Online Biennale, 2020, ‘Personal Structures’, parallel event at the 57th Venice Art Biennale, Palazzo Mora, Venice, 2017, ‘Art from Georgia’ group show, Phoenix Gallery, New York, 2016. In 2019, her project ‘Citrus Trees Covered against the Frost’ won the Heinrich Boell Foundation competition ‘Bauhaus’ and was implemented at the Station Square in Tbilisi and The Why Not Gallery hosted her solo show in 2021 “Sometimes Water Burst Out of Dried Up Fountains”, and second solo exhibition: "Painted Walls Create an Illusion of Reality" in 2022.
Gvantsa Jishkariani (b.1991, Rustavi) is a Tbilisi-Madrid-based multimedia artist and curator. She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Tbilisi State Academy of the Fine Arts (2013), then completed an informal master's program at the Centre of Contemporary Art-Tbilisi (2014). Dedicated to experimentation, the artist likes to explore traditional craft – investigate her own associations, research into the tradition and then employ the knowledge to create her art. Her works often deal with her personal emotions and experiences as well as reflect socio-political conditions of present-day world. The artist often employs humour to address these deeply personal and highly relevant topics.
Jishkariani is widely exhibited in Georgia as well as abroad including New York, Brussels, Vienna, Prague, Zurich, Dusseldorf, Naples among others. In 2021 she received Prince Claus Foundation Seed Awards. In 2020 she was selected for the Forbes 30 under 30 list, in 2019 she won the NARS Foundation Studio Grant, New York and in 2017 the artist received the Tsinandali Award in Visual Arts. Her artworks are in private collections worldwide including MSGM Collection, Alain Servais Collection, TBC Bank Collection, Collezione Taurisano, Maria Larsson Collection, Vasili Tsereteli Collection, Papashvili Collection, Agovino Collection, The State Silk Museum, Georgia.
Apart from her artistic practice, Jishkariani has an equally vibrant curatorial career. She is a founder of Tbilisi-based galleries Patara Gallery (2017) and The Why Not Gallery (2018), dedicated to supporting young Georgian artists. She was the curator of the Tbilisi Photo Festival Night of Photography (2017, 2018, 2019). Jishkariani was the founder of the first Georgian online magazine Gargar magazine on art and fashion (2013-18).