- 14
Alexander Bandzeladze
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Description
- Alexander Bandzeladze
- Composition
- signed with the artist's initials and dated 67
- oil on canvas
- 116 by 108cm.; 45 5/8 by 42 1/2 in.
Provenance
Estate of the Artist
TBC Art Gallery, Tbilisi
TBC Art Gallery, Tbilisi
Exhibited
Tbilisi, Georgia State Art Gallery, First Group Exhibition of Abstract Works by Georgian Artists, 1987
Tbilisi, N Gallery, Alexander Bandzeladze, 2000
Tbilisi, N Gallery, Alexander Bandzeladze, 2000
Catalogue Note
The formation of post-war art in Georgia in the 1950s was to a large extent led by the inquiries of young painters, who received an academic education and found their vocation in opposition to the predominant aesthetic and ideology that looked for new figurative opportunities. Among them was Alexander (Shura) Bandzeladze. In 1952, following accusations of Formalism, Alexander Bandzeladze was expelled from the Tbilisi State Academy of Art. Although he did in due course receive his diploma, his investigations into the field of abstraction over the course of three decades were well-known only amongst a narrow circle of supporters.
As a draughtsman he took part in many exhibitions. In 1966 he received the Grand Prix at the International Biennale of Graphic Art in Brno, Czechoslovakia. Between 1981 and 1986 he decorated the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Tbilisi. In the mid-1970s young artists who would later (in the period of perestroika) actively participate in international exhibition projects began to gather around Alexander Bandzeladze.
After the ‘classical’ abstraction of David Kakabadze in the 1920s, non-figurative art in Georgia developed against the background of attempted withdrawals from the dead end of passive, illusionary imagery and thematic clichés. The art of Alexander Bandzeladze was the result of constant inquiry. The material, style and semantics of his oeuvre are within the spheres of investigation, perception and meditation.
Alexander Bandzeladze saw in immediate, spontaneous experiences the potential to turn abstraction into a parallel reality. The abstract work presented here was created in 1967 and is a compelling example of the author’s explorations in paint. The theatrical painting planes, broad brushstrokes and linear contours overrun the confines of the canvas and fill the space surrounding it. The author’s ego does not dominate the work, his works are projections of a more general state of existence. Through rich tonal variations, the surface exudes a soft glow, while light and colour engage in complex and conflicting relationships, their mutual urge towards dissipation being contained within a regulated graphic framework that constricts their ever increasing vibrations.
The life and oeuvre of Alexander Bandzeladze was enveloped by the search for inner freedom and the existential meaning of life. For the artist this position dominated everything; whether making figurative or abstract works, book illustrations or religious paintings, he verbally and graphically expressed and asserted that position.
Catalogue note written by Iliko Zautashvili.
As a draughtsman he took part in many exhibitions. In 1966 he received the Grand Prix at the International Biennale of Graphic Art in Brno, Czechoslovakia. Between 1981 and 1986 he decorated the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Tbilisi. In the mid-1970s young artists who would later (in the period of perestroika) actively participate in international exhibition projects began to gather around Alexander Bandzeladze.
After the ‘classical’ abstraction of David Kakabadze in the 1920s, non-figurative art in Georgia developed against the background of attempted withdrawals from the dead end of passive, illusionary imagery and thematic clichés. The art of Alexander Bandzeladze was the result of constant inquiry. The material, style and semantics of his oeuvre are within the spheres of investigation, perception and meditation.
Alexander Bandzeladze saw in immediate, spontaneous experiences the potential to turn abstraction into a parallel reality. The abstract work presented here was created in 1967 and is a compelling example of the author’s explorations in paint. The theatrical painting planes, broad brushstrokes and linear contours overrun the confines of the canvas and fill the space surrounding it. The author’s ego does not dominate the work, his works are projections of a more general state of existence. Through rich tonal variations, the surface exudes a soft glow, while light and colour engage in complex and conflicting relationships, their mutual urge towards dissipation being contained within a regulated graphic framework that constricts their ever increasing vibrations.
The life and oeuvre of Alexander Bandzeladze was enveloped by the search for inner freedom and the existential meaning of life. For the artist this position dominated everything; whether making figurative or abstract works, book illustrations or religious paintings, he verbally and graphically expressed and asserted that position.
Catalogue note written by Iliko Zautashvili.