Igor Tcholaria was born in 1959, in the town of Ochamchire, on the Black Sea coast of Abkhazia. Tcholaria’s inborn artistic gift didn’t remain unnoticed and he was admitted to the highly selective Sukhumi Art School in Georgia. There, away from the capitalism’s reign, he was privileged to be taught by resourceful teachers who didn’t enforce conformity but rather encouraged free thinking. Tcholaria thereafter proceeded to study at Saint Petersburg’s Academy of Fine Arts, which he graduated from in 1985. Today, Tcholaria is an artist of international standing; his vibrant works are eagerly sought after by many collectors and can be found in private collections of Luciano Pavarotti, Jean-Pierre Richard, Gérard Depardieu, Madonna and John Galliano, as well as in London’s Mayfair Hotel. Tcholaria’s recent commissions include two large-scale canvasses for a British transatlantic ocean liner – Cunard’s Queen Mary II cruise ship.
When perestroika kicked off, Tcholaria was one of the pioneers in street portraiture and has invented his own kind of Montmartre, located off Nevsky Prospekt, which is the central street of Saint Petersburg. The energetic artist and his extravagant artistic manner were spotted by an Italian gallery owner with whom he launched the first solo show. This was followed by cooperation with a Belgian gallery Robinsons, a Dutch gallery owner Mark Peet Visser and Roy Miles Gallery.
Igor’s oeuvre features Cubist contours and echoes of: Soviet avant-garde of the beginning of the XX century, French Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, chiaroscuro of the Dutch masters…Nonetheless, Tcholaria’s work still demonstrates a strong connection to traditional Caucasian and Persian art. His representation of a human figure transmits authentic Georgian charm, resembling Lado Gudiashvili’s oeuvre. Tcholaria’s Belorussian roots have also contributed to his aesthetic attitude and the extroverted celebratory patchworks of colours.
Igor cites and paraphrases identifiable visual languages, utilising them as a vocabulary for sculpting his own ‘sentences’, which is a method Tcholaria calls a ‘retro-perspective’.
The theme of circus, being an art of critical states that is defined by amplification, flamboyancy and anonymity, allows Tcholaria to embed his codified thoughts on life and its passions into his artworks. The postmodern collage technique reinforces the melange of festivity and elusiveness, bringing up beautifully the subjects of expectations, anticipation, idealisation and shadow of paradise.
*required fields
We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.
