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LEVAN LAGIDZE My Journey Series

Levan Lagidze’s My Journey series are playful small works that reference his creative journey and his philosophy of sharing experiences in harmony and gratitude. They are also an invitation to his collectors to create their own wall mosaic from works whose colours and textures speak specifically to them.

I feel like I’m creating a mosaic from these small paintings. It is an interesting journey, bringing it to life. Each piece is independent and yet an integral part of the whole. I feel an excitement, a happy feeling throughout the process. Creating this mosaic is a puzzle that is inspiring and freeing. Let’s be directed by this motto: “Let’s create something great - and even better.” - LEVAN LAGIDZE

 

SAMPLE ARTWORKS
(32 x 30cm)

PLEASE NOTE: Most or all of these artworks are sold. There are very few Levan Lagidze artworks currently available. To enquire regarding available artworks or about commissioning an artwork, please contact me directly: katrine@katrinelevin.com

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LEVAN LAGIDZE | PROMISE

LONDON, MAYFAIR
November 2021
Katrine Levin Galleries at D Contemporary
23 Grafton Street, London, Mayfair, W1S 4EY

 
 
 
 
 
 

Promise - delivering on the artist’s promise to never cease to surprise us - was a vibrant exhibition of new works that expanded on Lagidze’s central idea of sharing experiences in harmony and gratitude and looking deeper beneath the surface to find true happiness - a theme especially poignant after the soul-searching months brought on by the pandemic.

The unique Mayfair gallery space - set in a period building with marble fireplaces and large windows leading onto a landscaped garden - provided a homelike warmth that resonated compellingly with Lagidze’s deep and uplifting works. The buzzing reception was opened by the Georgian Ambassador to the UK, Sophie Katsarava MBE and attended by guests and collectors who flew in for the occasion, including Katie Melua and Christine Ohuruogu.

All works for the exhibition were created in 2021, including six 130 x 105cm pieces, three 73 x 60cm pieces, and seventeen 35 x 32cm pieces from the “My Journey” subseries of gem-like and playful small works that tempt you to create a mosaic in tune with your living space and feelings.

 
 

LEVAN LAGIDZE is one of Georgia’s greatest living artists whose work is held in the permanent collections of major museums including the Tretyakov Gallery and Museum of Modern Art in Russia, the National Picture Gallery in Georgia, and the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in the United States.

Inspired by Georgia’s landscapes and cityscapes, Lagidze’s outwardly abstract compositions contain traces of the figurative. Perspective has been flattened and each element within a canvas is given equal importance. Lagidze’s aim is not to prioritise, not to ascribe secondary or primary values but to allow every fragment to form part of a universal whole, so that ‘the earth is as important as the sky’. This creates a sense of paintings within paintings, as the smaller elements within larger canvases draw the eye and appear to stand alone, creating a Labyrinthian sense of art within artworks.

Following a grid like structure, paint is applied thickly using a palette knife creating texture, depth, and a sense of things hidden. Often vibrant, Lagidze’s canvases reflect the multicoloured nature of the world, with blocks of colour both in the forefront and also concealed, to be re-discovered by the viewer. The rhythmic use of line and colour creates a harmony that is also echoed in his meditative series, where variations on shades of the same colour create the sensation of being drawn into an ever-unfolding depth.

Born in 1958 in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, Lagidze graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 1981. He founded and led an artist’s studio at the Tbilisi Artists’ House in 1983 and served as Chairman of Georgia´s Young Artists’ Union from 1986 to 1989. In 2011, he founded the Lagidze Gallery in Tbilisi.

 
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LEVAN LAGIDZE | Coming Back

EXCLUSIVELY ONLINE (due to pandemic closures)
November - December 2020

 

KATIE MELUA, the Georgian-British singer songwriter connected with LEVAN LAGIDZE in 2019. Katie says that her conversations with Levan were an inspiration for her Album No 8. Set to the soulful “Remind Me to Forget”, this collaborative video is about shared experiences. As Levan puts it, “music you can see and art you can listen to.”

 

OVER ZOOM: CANDID INTERVIEW WITH LEVAN LAGIDZE

 
““I like looking at landscape from above. As seen from a high perspective, all elements, the earth, the sky, are equally important and every detail contains within itself an expression of the whole.””

LEVAN LAGIDZE | Bach Exercises

NEW YORK
September 2019
Katrine Levin Galleries at Zurcher Gallery
33 Bleecker Street, Soho, New York

 
 
 
 
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It was a fast-paced and exciting exhibition in New York's vibrant Soho. We are very grateful for the tremendous response to Lagidze's work by the New York visitors. A huge thank you to all who came and to all those who tuned in from across the Atlantic.

The happy buzz of the opening reception transformed into an awed hush during the after-party Bach Cello Suites concert presented by Aspect Chamber Music Series and performed by Zlatomir Fung, winner of the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition. Bach's notes resonated magically with the extraordinary works of Georgia's iconic Lagidze.

This exhibition completed the Bach Exercises series which spanned over a number of years Tbilisi, London, and New York, with new and evolving works created by Lagidze for each city.

New York was also the inauguration of a new series of works by Lagidze, titled “My Journey” and comprised of gem-like, playful small works that urge the collector to create a wall mosaic according to their imagination and feelings. The title references Lagidze’s own creative journey and captures his key philosophy to share experiences in harmony and gratitude, embracing fully what he calls an “infinitely happy game.”

 
 

The exhibition title, "Bach Exercises", derives from Lagidze’s perception of Bach. “Listening to Bach I see the infinite … Each measure, rhythm, accent and pause is so precise that his music is always new and unexpected. This is the magic of universal composition. The music you can see or the painting you can listen to…” (Levan Lagidze)

Levan Lagidze’s artworks are collected by the iconic Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and by national museums across the former USSR countries and in the United States.

Born in 1958 in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, Lagidze graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 1981. He founded and led an artist’s studio at the Tbilisi Artists’ House in 1983 and served as Chairman of Georgia´s Young Artists’ Union from 1986 to 1989. In 2011, he founded the Lagidze Gallery in Tbilisi.

LEVAN LAGIDZE | Bach Exercises

LONDON
November - December 2018
Katrine Levin Galleries at La Galleria Pall Mall
Royal Opera Arcade, St. James’s, London SW1Y 4UY

 
 
 
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The iconic and reclusive Georgian painter, Levan Lagidze, returned to London for the first time in 20 years with "Bach Exercises", an exhibition of new works created specifically for the show.

The exhibition title, "Bach Exercises", derives from his perception of Bach. “Listening to Bach I see the infinite … Each measure, rhythm, accent and pause is so precise that his music is always new and unexpected. This is the magic of universal composition. The music you can see or the painting you can listen to…” (Levan Lagidze)

I don’t want to surprise or to shock you, I only want to share with you

The theme of looking deep beneath the surface and sharing experiences in harmony and gratitude, combined with a sense of playfulness, runs throughout Lagidze’s textured and vibrant work which shares through abstraction such universal narratives as landscape and urbanisation.

“I don’t believe that in today’s world the function of art is to shock, provoke or surprise its viewers,” he says. “Rather, it carries a mission for harmonious existence and happiness. A relationship with painting is a participation in this infinite happy game.”

Inside Every Square of His Works is a Separate Universe

Lagidze says that creating a composition is like “measuring eternity with careful steps”. As Nana Jorjadze, the Oscar-nominated Georgian film director, aptly described, “inside every square of Levan Lagidze's work is a separate universe”.

 
 

Levan Lagidze’s artworks are collected by the iconic Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and by national museums across the former USSR countries and in the United States.

Born in 1958 in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, Lagidze graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 1981. He founded and led an artist’s studio at the Tbilisi Artists’ House in 1983 and served as Chairman of Georgia´s Young Artists’ Union from 1986 to 1989. In 2011, he founded the Lagidze Gallery in Tbilisi.

 

PRESS

 
 
 
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Laura Brudenell White  

 laura@laurawhitepr.com  

07595938413  

 

Katrine Levin Galleries

presents: 

LEVAN LAGIDZE: COMING BACK

La Galleria Pall Mall, London

 8th - 21st November 2020

 

Levan Lagidze is one of Georgia’s most significant living artists.  Heralded as a legend by many, and a philosopher by others – generous yet reclusive, expansive yet hidden and inspirational yet humble.  Lagidze’s charm and affable nature contrasts with the intensity and punch-like power of his art. Creating a composition, he says, is like “measuring eternity with careful steps.” Seeing one of his artworks is never enough. He paints within paintings – art within artworks; a mosaic of gems that make a masterpiece. His works are full of life, crammed with energy and show you something new every time. He is not a headline seeking artist to shock or surprise but a gentler soul that seduces and inspires.

 

Lagidze’s abstract paintings amplify the rich, cultural essence of his home country.  Here you see the spectacular land and cityscapes of Georgia come alive with hidden colours, deep textures – works that go far beneath the surface. Taking at least one month to complete, each painting is worked on day and night – instead of leaving his studio, the artist invites friends and family to visit him whilst he works. Sometimes providing a ‘party like’ atmosphere for his creative process. The canvas is prepped into a grid – each square has layers of paint applied. He usually works with one square at a time – hence every square of his paintings is a separate universe. Using a paintbrush and a palette knife, he works into the layers to reveal multiple colours beneath until he is satisfied. At the end of the process, he applies several layers of gloss to bring depth and life to the colours.

 

Returning to London in 2020 (after a successful exhibition in 2018), Lagidze calls this exhibition Coming Back not as the simple return to London but the notion of  “coming back” to oneself - to what is most important in life, to the deeper truths that we often ignore while running on the constant treadmill of life as we know it.

 

 See for yourself the immense power of the work – comprising of over 30 new original paintings, Levan Lagidze: Coming Back is an exhibition not to be missed.

 

About the Artist

Born in 1958 in Tbilisi, Georgia (then part of the Soviet Union), Lagidze graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 1981. He founded and led an artist’s studio at the Tbilisi Artists’ House in 1983 and served as Chairman of Georgia´s Young Artists’ Union from 1986 to 1989. In the early 1990s he supported struggling Georgian artists in the economically turbulent and violent decade following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In the calmer times of 2011, he founded the Lagidze gallery in Tbilisi to showcase his own works. His works are collected by museums across Georgia, Russia, other former USSR block countries, and the United States, including:

·       The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia;

·       The Modern Art Museum, Moscow, Russia;

·       The National Picture Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia;

·       The Batumi State Gallery, Batumi, Georgia;

·       The Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, NJ, United States

 

 

NOTES TO THE EDITOR 

1.     An e-catalogue of the exhibition will be available. For a preview, please click here.

2.     The exhibition comprises of 30 new paintings: a mix of large works (130 x 105cm in portrait and landscape orientations) and new additions to the “My Journey” series.  (a collection of smaller, 35 x 32cm jewel pieces that are created for the collector to pick and mix)

3.     High-res images of the works are available – please contact laura@laurawhitepr.com for further details.  For an online look at samples of his work, please click here.

 

 

LEVAN LAGIDZE
Macondo

23 October - 18 November, 2023

Georgia’s iconic Levan Lagidze does not paint specific cities, yet people from around the world see their city in his canvases. He sometimes titles his works “Macondo” - the perfect city of an imperfect memory, whose colours and textures evoke the essence of a special place in our hearts.

Each viewer finds their own Macondo in Lagidze’s multi-faceted paintings which creates a bond transcending cultural differences. In today’s world, says Lagidze, art carries a mission for harmonious existence and happiness.

Lagidze paints within paintings, allowing for endless discoveries. “I like looking at landscape from above,” he says, “as seen from a high perspective, all elements - the earth, the sky - are equally important and every detail contains within itself an expression of the whole.”

The exhibition comprised large and medium-sized paintings as well as twenty playful small works from the My Journey 2023 series. Referencing Lagidze’s creative journey and capturing his philosophy of sharing experiences in harmony and gratitude, these small works - each one only 35 x 32cm - allow Lagidze’s art to shine in small spaces while also inviting art lovers to collect several and create a mosaic from colours and textures speak specifically to them.

Levan Lagidze (b. 1958, Tbilisi) is a national treasure in his native country of Georgia, with work in the permanent collections of major museums worldwide.

 
 

 LEVAN LAGIDZE
Another Day

an exhibition and book launch of first retrospective
21 November - 3 December, 2022

One of Georgia’s greatest living artists, Lagidze believes that “in today’s world art carries a mission for harmonious existence and happiness.” You will never forget your first experience of a Lagidze. 

“Another Day” showcases Lagidze's undeniable mastery and inspiring optimism and is accompanied by his first retrospective, “Untitled”, superbly written by the renowned art historian, Dr. Ketevan Kintsurashvili.

Inspired by the multicoloured nature of the world and the geometry of cities and landscapes, Lagidze awakens cherished emotions of viewers across cultural backgrounds. Blocks of colour are both in the forefront and hidden, allowing for endless discoveries while the ingenious spacing of rich textures draws you into the depth of a seemingly infinite space.

“Levan Lagidze … is among the best artists of our time who define the cultural processes and inspire us with their mastership.”
Prof. David Lordkikanidze, Director General, Georgian National Museums

Using a palette knife within a grid-like structure, Lagidze describes his process as “measuring eternity with careful steps”. Flattening the perspective, he looks at the world from the height of the cosmos so each element acquires equal importance. Fragments of his paintings are complete in and of themselves and are also part of a universal whole, creating a sense of paintings within paintings.

“For him painting is a form of gaining a greater awareness ... looking at his paintings, you desire time in quiet contemplation”
Maka Bezhuashvili, Curator, Georgian National Museum

Alternating between vibrant and meditative works, “Another Day” is both a testament to Lagidze’s unwavering belief in the best of human nature and to the continued evolution of his art.

LEVAN LAGIDZE (b. 1958) lives in Tbilisi, Georgia and rarely travels abroad. His work is in the permanent collection of Georgia’s National Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery and Museum of Modern Art in Russia, and the Zimmerli Art Museum in the United States, to name a few.