ARTICLES
Kandelaki immigrated to
the United States in 1990, and, with hardly missing a step, began
to paint works which reflected his changed situation. Learning
about American holidays and discovering American local color, he
has made a Halloween street scene based in Philadelphia. As he
said, "I think that the basic symbols of celebrations of different
nations are similar." And so a happy pumpkin is paraded through
the city's streets.
Just as Kandelaki grew
critical of the Soviet system when still in Georgia, so he remains
critical to this day. In his series Depredation of
Appreciations, begun in 1992, Soviet paper money is shown to
have been overcome by American paper money, both a comment on the
failure of communism and on the centrality of business interests
to the exclusion of other types of concerns in the modern world.
In this same series, Kandelaki has created works which consist of
fish skeletons, cigarette stubs, and torn Soviet paper money, as
if to say that the old system is depleted, defeated, and burnt
out.
During the same year,
Kandelaki completed a few works on the theme of Lenin in
Washington. The idea for these paintings grows from the movies
produced in the Soviet Union with titles such as Lenin in
Vienna or Lenin in
Poland.
In the Washington
paintings, Lenin arrives in the nation's capital on floating bank
notes, unannounced and ignored. Kandelaki's recent works, such as
those from the Tree of Life and Nature series begun
in 1995, and in works such as Predatory Life, play out on a
more phantasmagoric level the destructive qualities of life the
artist experienced, that amidst all of the evident possibilities
for growth and development, there is always the great possibility
for destruction. At the same time, using nature as his metaphor,
there is also the promise of great joy. In these works, Kandelaki
is addressing the great and lasting themes of art—life, power,
youth, aging, the seasons, happiness, sadness. These works are
among the most emotional the artist has painted, reflective of the
greater sense of psychological openness provided by the American
environment.
These works also transcend
the particularities of time and place and speak more generally to
the human condition—of opportunities missed and solutions ignored.
In them, Kandelaki exercises his powers of reflection, his views
of life as befits his new circumstances. Probably, as he discovers
more American local color, his images will mellow, but not lose
their edge.
Of many artists it can be
said that their technique does interfere with or limit their
imaginations. But with Kandelaki, the reverse is the case. His
superb technique liberates his imagination. It is at the service
of his imagination.
Matthew Baigell
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New
Jersey
***
Despite
its local color, Autumn Celebration awakens other, less
local, associations. The architectural perspective of the painting
invites comparison with the cityscapes that appear in trecento or
quattrocento Italian paintings, for example the famous Effects
of Good Government in the City by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (Palazzo
Pubblico, Siena). The tightly packed structures, the balconies,
the arched windows, and the complex panoramic perspective are
similar; and thematically, too, there are parallels.... Although
Lorenzetti's Good Government in the City depicts a normal working
day rather than a holiday, a circle of dancers in the foreground
gives a festive note to what is already a scene of urban happiness
and prosperity. Kandelaki's Autumn Celebration may derive from his
Georgian experience, but it, too, represents a timeless human
dream of communal harmony and well-being.
Holiday Procession
is celebratory
in a more colorful, straightforward way. It is a sunny scene of
abundance, and it incorporates some straightforward elements of
modernity. The outsized champagne bottles, the cigarette package,
and the box of tea represent Georgian products that are exported
to other countries. Once again, however, traditional elements
abound. We see fi-uits and vegetables paraded through the streets,
there is feasting on every balcony, children play, and wine flows
freely. In fact wine appears throughout the composition, contained
in bottles, barrels, bowls, and pitchers, as well as a traditional
drinking horn. (This last, held aloft in the sky, is no less
important than the hammer and sickle.) Colored balloons float over
the city, and in the foreground a young girl unfolds a
rainbow-colored fan—a captivating image of pure, joyous,
unmotivated beauty. There are Communist symbols in the
painting—floats, red banners, and various reminders of industrial
progress—but these are gently enfolded within the traditional
scene. It is only on close inspection that the absurdity of some
of these images reveals itself, for example the banner-waving
heroes perched atop an awkwardly proportioned globe or the
pastoral tableau of shepherd and sheep mounted on a clumsy
motorized float.
•••••••••
The impulse to give modern
scenes emotional or symbolic depth through association with
traditional subjects and symbols from the art of the past can be
traced not only in Kandelaki's paintings but also in the work of
other artists active in the 1970s within the confines of what was
then the Soviet Union. These artists used traditional symbolism
and references to old master paintings as an affirmation of their
attachment to history, to deeper layers of values, and to the
rhythms of the natural world. Their references to historical
tradition were in implicit conflict with the Communist ideology of
progress- yet at the same time they appealed to a basically
conservative set of values: stability, harmony, continuity.
Kandelaki's work is, in a sense, both radical and conservative: it
is radical in its use of imagery that either implicitly or
explicitly entered into conflict with the ruling system yet
conservative in its affirmation of community and continuity.
Janet Kennedy
Indiana University
Henry Redford Hope School of Fine Arts
***
In a group of panoramic
paintings, Kandelaki combines images of festival, celebration,
children's games and occupational routine on the streets and
plazas of old Tbilisi, Georgia's capital city. They are cherished
memories, apparently structured by the winding streets and alleys,
but they too are carefully organized.
In these paintings, scale
is important both to design and to symbolism. Objects dominate
human activity: gigantic squashes, fruits and ears of corn are
carried on horsedrawn wagons through the foreground of the
paintings; massive wine bottles and jugs dwarf and sometimes
replace buildings, a huge meat bone commands the attention of
guests at a convivial dinner table, and a paper airplane larger
than an air transport glides over the city. Interspersed among
family rituals and seasonal festivals, small vignettes of daily
routine activate the composition: children's games with barrel
staves and slingshots, itinerant knife sharpeners, and
coppersmiths hammering out great pots for the hearth.
These large canvases have
a kind of choral quality, many voices of different color, range
and strength, unified by a melody that all the members of the
chorus have known for centuries and sing without reference to a
score.
Kandelaki's "Georgian"
paintings are nostalgic, but they are also optimistic; they are
suffused with light and are full of symbols of hope and strength.
The Georgian "Christmas tree", the chichilaki, is made of wood
shavings. It sits in a window, set against a sunlit snowscape over
a traditional Georgian balcony. It is surrounded by seeds, beans
and preserved fruits. It is an ensemble of hope, perhaps a way for
the artist to reassure himself of a personal and national rebirth.
THORA JACOBSON
Director, Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memoric.
***
"Vova Kandelaki is not content
with his exhibition"
A brilliant representative of the 70’s
generation of the Georgian artists, Vova Kandelaki held a huge
exhibition at the Karvasla art center. The exhibition is
simultaneously being held in the US.
He displayed a lot of daggers, cradles, old Caucasian musical
instruments, saddles, drawings and many interesting things from
Georgian culture. As he says it is just a part of his
collection. "There was not enough room for everything I have
collected, this exhibition hall is too small for exhibiting all
of the possessions of mine".
Vova Kandelaki talking to GT said, "I can say confidentially
that if these works are in my hands then they cost much more
than in someone else's hands". He says that he intuitively feels
each thing, finds and gets it.
It took his entire life to collect all these things, but he is
ready to presents the pieces displayed at the exhibition to
Georgian people. Vova Kandelaki's wish is to hand his whole
collection to the Tbilisi museum.
Hereby, we present a brief biography of Vladimir Kandelaki to
your reader. He was born in 1943. He graduated from the Tbilisi
Academy of Fine Arts. In 1990 he visited America. There he was
invited by the joint US-Georgian venture - Lileo Arts. From
early 90’s, Vladimir Kandelaki has been working in the USA
enjoying wider possibilities for realizing his talent and
energy. At the same time he is actively popularizing Georgian
culture abroad. Since 1993 he has been working for the UNESCO.
In 1998 he established the Vladimir Kandelaki Charity Fund aimed
at assisting and reviving the Georgian culture. Alas, the fund
in which he invested big capital soon faced the troubles.
"Vova appointed Eter Shavgulidze, Deputy Rector of the Tbilisi
Academy of Fine Arts, the director of his Fund. Mr. Kandelaki
was providing her with specific aims and carefully-designed
budget. Shavgulidze was to organize the Fund activities, but in
a three months time there was not a single Tetri left in the
fund. It was a shock for Kandelaki when he returned from
America. He had transferred a total of $650,000 into the Fund.
But the money that was misused by Shavgulidze. “We filed a
lawsuit against Shavgulidze, but with such a huge sum in her
hands, she could easily bribe authorities concerned. Currently
we have renewed the court process attempting to get back at
least some part of the sum,” said Kandelaki.
“Shavgulidze was dismissed from her job exactly for that reason"
– said Giorgi Totebadze, the acting president of the Fund.
LALI JAVAKHIA
"Georgian Times".
03.11.02
***
“It Is
Impossible to Be Georgian and Not to Know Vladimir Kandelaki”
On
October 21 the Tbilisi State Museum of History 'Karvasla' hosted
an outstanding action dedicated to today's biggest problem –
terrorism and the terrorist act of September 11. It was an
exhibition-action which included varied exhibits of old military
arms of the Caucasus and other peoples of the world displayed in
an anti-terrorist nature. The owner of this unique collection,
famous Georgian artist Vladimir Kandelaki, dedicated the
exhibition to the victims of terrorist acts committed recently
throughout the world – in New York, London, Russia, Israel and
other places.
Vladimir Kandelaki, Honorary Professor at the Tbilisi Academy of
Arts, Honoured Artist and the Freeman of Tbilisi city, has an
international reputation. Many exhibitions in various countries
of the world and a vast number of his admirers are evidence of
this recognition. Kandelaki’s works are not only original, but
also deeply national.
Since the 1990s Kandelaki has been working in the United States,
where, due to his talent and hard work, he has greatly expanded
the sphere of his activities. He has been tirelessly
popularizing Georgian culture abroad. Kandelaki, whose works
originated from and are deeply rooted in national culture, has
been struggling to preserve and revive Georgian arts. To this
end, he has established a charitable foundation. He has
distinguished himself not only through his works, but also
through his collection, to which he has devoted years of his
life. For decades he has been collecting Georgian and Caucasian
weapons, household items, musical instruments, etc. His
collection is diverse, rich and deeply impressive. It’s clear
how precious every item is in this collection which Kandelaki
has been gathering for many years.
He comments, 'Today’s action is not an exhibition. It is more an
evening dedicated to anti-terrorism. My collection is really one
of the largest [of its kind] in the world, and it is dedicated
to peace, not war. This is just part of the collection. We don’t
have enough space to exhibit the whole collection. And speaking
of the main ideas and concept of the event, I think that it is
absolutely clear that the issue of terrorism is one of the most
burning problems in today's world. This action supports peace
and justice'.
The exhibition gathered historians, artists, writers,
scientists, and simply admirers of the great patriot’s talent.
Many friends of the painter congratulated him and spoke before
the audience. Among them were poets who have dedicated their
poems to mystery of 'Karvasla' and the rare and amazing
exhibition. These poems were also full of great patriotism and
deep significance. Emotional speeches of the guests touched upon
the problems of war and peace, terrorism as one of the main
evils of our century, art and beauty - which can save us - and
love, of course - for your homeland, friends, art, and for your
own people.
Kandelaki’s friend and patron, the first Ambassador of
Independent Georgian Republic in the United States, Mr. Peter
Chkheidze, also attended - a man who always stands by his friend
Kandelaki, who came to the USA to nurture his amazing talent.
Chkheidze stated, '“It is impossible to be Georgian and not to
know Vladimir Kandelaki. This man wasn’t born to glorify anybody
or anything. He was born the way he is and does what he wishes
and loves. Some of the guests here repeated more than once that
we might need such weapons to defend ourselves. It’s probably
true, but I wish that Georgia – this little country – would
never need arms, but would be able to solve everything in a
peaceful way'.
MARI KINTSURASHVILI,
"Georgian Times". 24.10.05
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