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A Celebration of the Maestro of Georgian Painting

By Ana Devdariani
Monday, January 6
On Thursday, December 26, TBC Art Gallery hosted an evening honoring the works of celebrated Georgian painter Irakli Sutidze.

The event was two-fold: the guests in attendance had a chance to catch the first glimpse of Davit Andriadze’s new book, as well as enjoy a performance directed by Beso Kupreishvili.

Andriadze’s book, He, or the New Kholstomer is a post-modernistic cycle of reflections on Sutidze’s creations. Kupreishvili’s performance, He, Aleatory, is a play based on both Sutidze’s characters and Andriadze’s impressions of them.

“He” (Georgian, “Is”) is the way Sutidze signs his works. Both, the book and the performance are a sort of veneration of him as an artist. Andriadze calls him the new Kholstomer, referring to one of the most striking stories in Russian literature. The story, penned by Leo Tolstoy is notable for employing the technique of defamiliarization as it adopts the perspective of a gelding in order to expose some of the irrationalities of human conventions. With this comparison, Andriadze suggests Sutidze’s altruism in his art.

The idea of “He, Aleatory” was born from a question: Can Suitidze’s characters live outside of the canvas? Kupreishvili set out to prove just that. “Aleatory” is a musical term that refers to 20th century music and is occasionally described as a “play with words.” With this play, Kupreishvili offers Sutidze’s characters a way to live-on beyond the canvas.

The project, supported by TBC Bank and the Tbilisi Cultural Event Center, was put together by Qetevan Kordzakhia and designed by Sandro Chkhaidze.