Almost on the same Height – by Niko Lomashvili
By Mariam Chanishvili
Friday, November 29
Georgian National Museum is presenting the exhibition by Niko Lomashvili’s - ‘Almost on the same Height’ at Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery.
The exhibition brings together works by Niko Lomashvili, created over the past 12 years.
“The title “Almost on the same Height” refers to the artist’s specific approach to his artwork: in visual and conceptual structure all works are equal, but each has a specific role and points out to the specific aspects of the subconscious dynamics, the physical embodiment of which is represented at the exhibition through the 7 sculptures on display,” reads the description of the exhibition.
The exhibition, which is curated by Magda Guruli, will be available until December 10.
Niko was born in 1963 in Tbilisi. After a series of nationals and collectives exhibitions, he takes part in international exhibitions like in 1997 at the IFA gallery in Berlin (Germany). He has worked on several video creations.
In 1986, a small group of young artists at Tbilisi State Academy of Arts created an avant-garde group called the "Tenth Floor". This group included various artists: Mamuka Japaridze, Niko Lomashvili, Temur Iakobashvili, Niko Tsetskhladze, Oleg Timchenko, Guram Tsibakhashvili, Gia Dolidze, Zurab Sumbadze, Maya Tsetskhladze, Lia Shivadze, etc.
“Almost on the same Height” is a manifestation of the artist’s aesthetic pursuits, where the moral, ethical, sociopolitical or philosophical context seems to stay in the background.
It is noteworthy that the works of Niko Lomashvili seem to go beyond the confines of the recent mainstream tendency of deliberate ‘de-aestheticization’ of a work of art. To provide a largely aesthetic experience the artist attempts to liberate his works from the domination of concept, which in turn offers the possibility for limitless interpretation.
From the point of view of modern art history, the approach, when the emphasis from a message and concept is shifted to a fully thought-out aesthetics of the work is somewhat protestant and thus significant.
