Gogi Chagelishvili considers his creative life to be divided in two periods, before and after “perestroika”. Before “perestroika”, he was working in his native country Georgia in the former Soviet Union, where artists were allowed to work only in the style of “ Socialist Realism” and where Gogi was representing a very few that refused to do so. He managed to create his abstractions even behind the “iron curtain” while never losing the sense of reality. His after “ perestroika” period starts in 1985 when Gogi took his first trip beyond the “iron curtain”. Istanbul was the first free city he visites, and it became the love at first sight as well as “inexhaustible source” of his creative work.
Chagelishvili’s paintings are impulsive and very expressive. His brush rtyhm sometimes feels lazy as if he is making fun of the authors who are trying to show off their tecnique. On his canvas he often deliberately leaves the casual contours, marked with a pencil that you can seen under the paint and transforms his picture into a figurative element.
Chagelishvili is an artist in search of the lost space in his landscapes, where nature is not an accessory, decoration or background, but rather a part of history, a grand melody with a “voice of silence”. All of a sudden the landscape motive becomes an abstraction. His color gamut is very rich and diverse and one can’t help but being delighted with his paintings.
Gogi Chagelishvili was born in Georgia. He is a graduate of Tbilisi State Arts Academy. He currently lives with his wife and two sons in Tbilisi, Georgia. Gogi’s works are kept in the museums, such as Tretiakov Gallery and Oust Museum in Moscow; Art Museum and National Picture Gallery in Tbilisi as well as in private collections in Barcelona, Moscow, Istanbul, Ottowa, Montreal, Christchurch and New York.
The solo exhibition by Gogi Chagelishvili will run from November 18 – December 31, 2009 at the Pirosmani Art Gallery located on 11-A Turnacibasi Street in Beyoglu, Istanbul.
