“Corona Days” Artworks Promote Young Georgian Artists: Natalia Lashkhi
INTERVIEW
The BI Auction team has set to promoting young Georgian artists creating works throughout the pandemic, uniting them in the online exhibition ‘Artists Artworks @Corona Days’. Some of the artists have agreed to share their insights, along with their works, with the readers of GEORGIA TODAY.
“Nature is resting while a lot of countries declare a state of emergency,” young Georgian artist Natalia Lashkhi tells us, going on to explain how the coronavirus pandemic has affected her own private world of art.
A Tbilisi-born artist, Natalia got her bachelor’s degree from the Tbilisi State Academy of Art (TSAA), in the Faculty of Fine Arts. She is currently a second year MA student in the same faculty. When the coronavirus pandemic started spreading in the world, Natalia was an Erasmus+ student of the Sofia National Academy of Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria. Like many, she had to come back home.
“It was very difficult for me to leave Bulgaria. I liked the Academy, studying there, my studio; I made friends there. All of my professors and group mates were so kind to me. I fell in love with the city, it was wonderful,” Natalia recalls.
Now she’s studying online, staying in touch with her professors in Bulgaria, sharing works with them, and discussing different books and films. She’s hoping to go back while she continues to study at the TSAA. She mentions the name of Gia Gugushvili, the Georgian professor she is most grateful to. Natalia is one of the lucky few who finds it easy to be productive during these strange times.
“This time is very productive for me, I don't want to lose even a second. Being in isolation, I work and express my thoughts,” she says, adding that, “This situation is very sensitive for an artist. Art is a way of survival for me.”
“Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can only be explored by those willing to take the risk,” Mark Rothko once said. Taking a look at Natalia’s painting of dandelions, it’s evident that Natalia has taken that risk and has entered the unknown world of artistic metaphors, seeing coronavirus reflections in the form of the dandelion seeds.
“Dandelions have a similar construction to the virus's appearance under the microscope. And, of course, the conceptual meaning: the virus spreads as fast as the fluff in the wind,” the artist explains.
Another coronavirus-inspired work of Natalia’s is a piece she titled ‘Victory’ – only thing we need today against our common invisible enemy.
“I decided to paint ‘Victory.’ This is the only one thing we need today: to defeat our common invisible enemy. This is the quadriga of the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenbirger Tor). The quadriga is led by the goddess of Victory. Also, the Brandenburg Gate is associated for me with ancient Rome, with European culture. These is the main artistic inspiration for me in this work,” Natalia tells us.
“On the one hand, this virus has been fatal for a huge amount of people, and that's so tragic. We have to separate from each other, stay home and meet spring through our windows. But on the other hand, coronavirus is a response of nature to the pollution and humanity's careless attitude. Nature is resting while a lot of countries declare a state of emergency,” says Natalia, sharing her artistic viewpoint on the world crisis.
About BI Auction ‘for ART’: BI Auction is the first Art Auction Company of Georgia, established in 2016. The company’s aim is to promote Georgian art and artists and enlarge the market. In four years, BI Auction ‘for ART’ has organized seven auctions and presented more than 400 paintings from 120 Georgian painters. In every auction, the collection is selected from among a thousand paintings from the well-known legendary artists of Georgia and also from promising young artists.
By Nini Dakhundaridze
