Lilac (2014)
by Beka Khutsurauli
In the Caucasus, Prometheus was chained to a rock by the gods for stealing fire and giving it to mankind.
Balance (2014)
by Giorgi Robakidze
The aromatic wines of the “land of eight thousand vintages�, so named because the cultivation of the vine can be traced back to several thousand years before Christ, are celebrated by Homer in the Odyssey.
The Green (2014)
by Guga Chubinidze
But Georgia � a territory about the size of the Republic of Ireland, which rises from the shores of the Black Sea to the peaks of the Caucasus � is also the birthplace of Josif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili who, known to us as Stalin, marked the history of the twentieth century.
Portrait (2014) by Ilona Agajanyan
In 1859, the French writer Alexandre Dumas published an account of the long journey he undertook through these lands in his �Le Caucase. Journal de voyages et romans�. Deeply moved by the spectacle of the Caucasus, which marks the Georgian territory with its snowy peaks, birch forests, ancient churches and grasslands, and its ancient collective memory of stories and mythologies, his description was enthusiastic: “Le Caucase, c�est l�histoire des dieux et des hommes�.
Landscape (2014)
by Iola Nizamutdinovo
A natural corridor between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, Georgia has historically been a land of passage for goods and ideas, as well as for armies. Throughout history, artistic and religious traditions � Christian, Orthodox, Muslim � have been assimilated into the distinctive traits of the Georgian culture: polyphonic singing in its music, the art of the miniature in the visual domain, religious buildings in its architecture.
Georgian Patterns (2014)
by Lida Tsiklauri
An independent republic since 1991 � after the dissolution of the Soviet Union � and a presidential republic in accordance with its Constitution since 1995, Georgia is animated by a robust assertion of its national identity, whilst at the same time looking to Europe and to Western culture as a source of inspiration, discussion and reinterpretation of styles and ideas.
Mr. President (2014)
by Mariam Chelidze
Traditionally dependent on Russian energy supplies, Georgia has acquired a key role in the transit of resources. From the second half of the nineties it has become an energy highway between Azerbaijan and Turkey, hosting oil and gas pipelines, just as it once constituted a land route on the ancient Silk Road connecting China and the West.
Red (2014) by Mariam Magalashvili
This route ran through Tbilisi, today a modern and buzzing metropolis of nearly one and a half million inhabitants, multicultural and pluri- religious. Here, fifteen centuries of architecture coexist, symbolically united by the cable car that runs from the centre up to the fortress of Narikala, the original heart of the city. If in the neighbourhood below the fortress you can still feel the atmosphere of the Ottoman era, with buildings and roads similar to those of the old Ankara, Rustaveli Avenue, the elegant heart of the city, is reminiscent of Parisian boulevards, in the interpretation of architects of the tsarist era.
Hope (2014)
by Natia Tushishvili
And standing triumphant in the new urban development along the river are the futuristic creations of Italian superstars, who translated the concept of �glasnost� into buildings and bridges whose common denominator is glass and its luminous refractions.
Glasses (2014)
by Mariel Tskhvedi (Mariam Tskhvediani)
In this varied scenario, the Georgian art scene seeks its own route to definitively overcoming the immobilism and cultural hegemony of the Soviet period, to regaining confidence in its own qualities and affirming the notion that ideas and creativity can achieve so much.
Edge (2014)
by Nelli Shemshenovi
Painters, illustrators, filmmakers and video makers � who, with a modern take on the lesson of Otar Iosselani, the Georgian director, winner of the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival with “Favorites of the Moon� � animate the debate on the urgency of a contemporary art that is capable of awakening society and offering it a mirror in which to observe its own reflection.
Anomaly (2014) by Nicholas Berdysheff
With this collection of 140 10x12 cm works, Imago Mundi has made its contribution to the recognition and diffusion of Georgian art in the world. We have included, as the curator Guja Mabellini writes in her preface, “as many as possible of artistic experiences, from landscape to abstract painting, from illustration to collage, from sculpture to characteristic icons and painting on stone.� The story of Georgia today emerges: research, beauty, hope but also provocation, irony, love, often with references to the countless historical and artistic influences of the past.
Woman (2014)
by Sopiko Mgeladze
Dato Magradze, a leading contemporary Georgian poet, nominated for the Nobel prize in 2011, wrote: “My laws are groups of words, I arrange them in phrases and sentences, logical like the centuries.�
Imago Mundi and the artists of Georgia show that images, too, can unite.
Luciano Benetton
Combination of Color (2014)
by Tinatin Kalandadze
