The Why Not Gallery is delighted to present the works of three young Georgian artists: Tornike Bendeliani, Gvantsa Jishkariani, and Tamar Gurgenidze at the NADA Villa Warsaw 2024.
Seemingly disparate in their creative approaches, Tornike’s sculptural, painting-centric practice and Tamar’s CGI transformed into porcelain sculptures, contrast sharply with Gvantsa’s multimedia focus on traditional crafts. Born during Georgia’s independence, their upbringing amidst conflict and chaos profoundly influences their art. These artists explore themes of vulnerability and resilience, navigating the complexities of their homeland’s narratives through their unique mediums. Their divergent paths are apparent: Tornike tends towards introspective expression, Tamar fluidly transforms images across various media, while Gvantsa’s work engages directly with political and social contexts, reflecting her extroverted nature.
Featured on the exhibition are Gvantsa Jishkariani’s natural stone mosaic and textile works, part of an extensive series she has been developing for over five years. Her tendency to embrace extreme excess and visual tension is evident in her exuberant use of decorations and form. Drawing inspiration from Georgian craftsmanship, everyday kitsch and Soviet propaganda, her works explore diverse techniques such as stone mosaics and reworked Soviet-era tapestries, onto which she embroiders sharp phrases and commentaries. In a final act of deconstruction of the factory made tapestries, she burns, cuts, and decorates them, celebrating a symbolic victory over these sombre themes. Her pieces intricately weave socio-political themes, offering a perceptive commentary on the realities surrounding both the artist and the broader world.
Bendeliani’s watercolour drawings, framed in concrete and found wood, provide a striking contrast within the exhibition. These works challenge viewers with their enigmatic riddles, inviting open interpretations amidst chaotic compositions. The concrete frames add physical, sculptural, and symbolic weight, evoking a range of associations within his mysterious and grotesque creations.
Tamar Gurgenidze’s porcelain sculpture shows a lady with a backpack with a teddy bear keychain. Resembling Soviet period ceramic statues, her work bring Tamar’s CGI created figures into life. Tamar Gurgenidze, educated as a painter, is a young multimedia artist. She often portrays the same scenarios built around the same theme in different media, thus exploring different forms of expression and their impact on content. In this practice, where perfectionism can only be achieved by computer graphics and every duplication in physical material seems to be doomed to disappointment, it resembles a kind of game on associations.
Intriguingly divergent yet intimately interconnected, the presentation of works by Gvantsa Jishkariani, Tamar Gurgenidze, and Tornike Bendeliani embodies a dynamic dialogue between tradition and innovation, introspection and frankness. The exhibition invites viewers to delve deeper into the vibrancy of Georgian contemporary art.
