painting#032110 from series "MOVING STILLS" - Limited Edition 1 of 1 Artwork

I was born in 1957 in Tbilisi, Georgia (former Soviet Union) where I was raised. As a child I was fascinated with the world that surrounded me - the many forces at work, the vitality and scale of things. The complexity was beyond my understanding. To find an answer I started to draw. Art was to power the flight of my imagination and overcome uncertainty. I felt free not looking at physical appearances but searching for the spiritual traces of these elemental powers. It took much experimentation to distill my point of interest, I wanted to express my individual way of seeing the world. I wanted to become a professional artist and received a traditional Soviet-style art education at the Tbilisi State Academy and subsequently in the prestigious Aspirantura program. In my late twenties, following a quite organic discovery, I started to expiriment with abstract art, an art form that was not allowed according to the Soviet guidelines and certainly not welcomed in conservative Georgia of that time. As my new work was getting push back, I needed to find another place to seek an outlet for my artistic zeal. My migration first took me to avant-garde Moscow by that time dominated by the first signs of Perestroika and Glasnost, then to France and Germany. While in Germany I witnessed the sweeping changes in my native region. The Soviet Union had imploded and the whole world reeled from it! My passport became archaic - my nationality a mirage. During those years I worked in a variety of media; painting, installation, object, sound and video art. My works during this time of my career were mostly conceptual and offered a critique at the world around me and its unfolding socio-political challenges. I produced a vast body of work and had numerous group and solo shows in a various galleries and museums. Though I was able to live of my work, received several awards and felt recognized, I felt that something was missing. I was searching to see myself as an distinct, unique artist in my works, however failed to see myself as such. This realization eventually led me in 1997 to conclude to stop making art all together. Instead, I decided to study psychology.