Thea Gvetadze

Discovering one’s own universe – THIS COURSE WILL NOT TAKE PLACE

3–15 August 2020

Subtropical Ushguli, installation view, LC QUEISSER, Tbilisi, 2019

Medium
Painting

Location
Hohensalzburg Fortress

Teaching language
English (the teacher also speaks Georgian and German)

What to bring
All kinds of materials for painting – oil paints, sketchbook, coloured pencils, oil pastels, watercolours, canvas, brushes

Requirements
Attendance and joy

Maximum number of participants
20

Participation fee
€ 720.– (€ 560.–)

My teaching ist based mainly on exploring one’s personality and identifying one’s subjective vision of the universe. Students should not feel restricted, but at the same time, the learning process requires discipline, which greatly assists the growth of personal and professional skills. Although I teach painting, I think that working only in colours is not strictly necessary. The art of painting can be revealed in various materials and media, as well as in everyday, elementary behaviour.

A person’s vision should develop in such way that every step can be transformed into art. Open and personal communication with the students gives me an opportunity to better understand their subjective emotion, which is essential in creating art.

Thea Gvetadze lives and works in Tbilisi. Following her studies at the Tbilisi State Academy of Art, she moved to Amsterdam in 1993 to continue her studies at the Rietveld Academy, and subsequently attended the Düsseldorf Art Academy.

Thea Gvetadze creates tension-laden enigmatic scenarios, full of emotion and symbolism. Experimenting with traditional techniques in materials including clay and textiles, her practice speculates with highly idiosyncratic forms of image-making, representation and story-telling. Her paintings in particular, often painted directly onto black velvet, are vivid, recondite compositions unyielding to the pull of such a dark and cosmic ground.

Solo exhibitions
2019 Subtropical Ushguli, LC QUEISSER, Tbilisi. 2018 Thea Gvetadze – Becoming Thea Merlani, M HKA, Antwerp (BE). 2017 Zeda Tsinsvla, Gallery Nectar, Tbilisi. 2003 Museum of Fundamental Archaeology (with Tamara K. E.) 50. Biennale di Venezia, Venice (IT).

Group exhibitions (recent)
2018 Invalid Memorabilia, Giorgi Leonidze State Museum of Literature, Tbilisi. Block 76, Architecture Biennial Tbilisi, Tbilisi. Twelve Women Gone Missing, Tbilisi Art Fair, Tbilisi. 2017 Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe, Project ArtBeat, Tbilisi. State of Play: Art in Georgia in 1985–1999, GNM Tbilisi History Museum Contemporary Art Gallery, Tbilisi. 2016 Beyond Credit, Art in General, New York, NY (US). Aesthetics of Repair in Contemporary Georgia, Tartu Kunstimuuseum, Tartu (EE) in cooperation with Gallery Nectar, Tbilisi. Writing with Colour II, Europe House, Tbilisi.

Publications
Jens Asthoff: Thea Gvetadze, in: Artforum, October 2019.

Portrait photo: Anna Dziapshipa