“Corona Days” Artworks of Young Georgian Artists: Giorgi Gabiskiria
Continuing its collaboration with BI Auction, GEORGIA TODAY presents artists taking part in the online exhibition ‘Artworks @Corona Days.’ This week, we interviewed Giorgi Gabiskiria, a Moscow-born young artist, now exploring his creative mind in Georgia.
Since early childhood, as Giorgi tells us, he’s been particularly attracted to painting and the world of thought and imagination. However, it was not until his senior year in high school that he decided to get himself a professional education in art.
“I’ve always had to improve myself and my skills on my own, which, I believe, is a much more interesting method of learning,” Giorgi tells us.
Unlike most, Giorgi has found these coronavirus times peaceful for his working process. Giorgi seems as surprised as we are that he has managed to create for himself “A Separate Peace” (capitalized since it’s a name of a well-recommended book). However, the epidemic reflections still found a way into Giorgi’s art.
“I was trying not to let the themes of the virus affect my paintings. However, looking at them now, I realize just how much some of these works relate to the particular situation the world is in,” Giorgi reveals.
Curious about Giorgi’s experience of seeing inspiration in a work after it’s long done, I asked him how he sees the post-epidemic world.
“I think we have a very interesting future to look forward to. Of course, it entails many problems and gaps, but still it is very interesting. The world has gained experience that will change it forever,” says the artist.
Giorgi’s view of the post-epidemic art world is rather optimistic.
“The idea of the post-epidemic world, for an artist and their future work, in my opinion, is the most primitive and yet most useful circumstance for inspiration,” he says.
Perhaps quite rightly, Giorgi believes that an artist should follow the pulse of society, keeping their works in the rhythm of its beating. Art, for Giorgi, also has a historic importance.
“An artist should focus on bringing his contemporary world to the canvas. The mission of the artist is historic: the history of art, and general history, should inherit the reflection of these unprecedented times,” he explains.
In his Corona Days works, Giorgi made an effort to show the contrast between the old and the new. Giorgi’s choice of black and white perfectly depicts the chaos, instability, and agony that we have gone through this pandemic. However, it is not just the contrast between the pre- and post- pandemic worlds, as Giorgi plays with the idea of ego: the death of it and the rebirth of it as completely new and foreign; more adapted to the next stage of life.
Reading Giorgi’s input on the death and rebirth of the ego and the life as we knew it before reminded me of a line from Jim Morrison’s poem that I love, though I never really understood it: “We live, we die, and death not ends it.”
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. For more information, please contact biauction1@gmail.com