Artistic Couple: Sandro Dalikashvili
Interview
Within the scope of GEORGIA TODAY’s collaboration with BI Auction, we are offering our readers exclusive interviews from Georgian artistic couples. Last week, we introduced Nina Pery, and this week we have her spouse: painter Sandro Dalikashvili, who tells us about the most immaculate form of art and how paper got him into painting, gives us a Dostoevsky quote, and discusses changeable inspiration.
Who first introduced you to art? How and when did you start painting?
The love of painting was born in me when I was a little boy, around two years old. It was my grandpa, philologist and public figure Simon Skhirtladze who taught me how to cut out differently shaped figures from paper. I would play with these cut out figures, but the paper would tear, and I needed to cut out new ones all the time, so I started to paint them.
My father, Tamaz Dalakishvili, one of Georgia’s most appreciated architects, was a very talented graphic artist. It was he who gave me my first lessons in graphics and anatomy.
In a few years, I learned anatomy and by the time I was 12, I had created numerous paintings. I participated in exhibitions, received prizes and got awarded a gold medal for my graphic work at the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy in Moscow, along with Nina.
Who had the biggest impact on your work early on in your career?
It was Bosch who impacted me greatly in my childhood: his strength, power and fantasy were one of a kind. Inspired by him, I painted a few works when I was 12-13. Pieter Bruegel the Elder was another of my early inspirations. These two painters helped establish and shape my view as a painter and how I chose to approach my creative process.
How important do you deem professional education in shaping an artist?
Every person is different, and this shows more in painting. There is not one thing that can be generalized on everyone and still be true. I think everyone finds their own ways to get educated and educate themselves.
That said, I think the most immaculate art is art made by children; the art made without any education whatsoever. The rest is extremely individualistic.
Have you had to overcome any challenges in your pursuit of art?
There will always be challenges along the path to any career. There is nothing perfect, and challenge-less, especially the way of being an artist.
Could you tell us of the advantages and disadvantages of living with a fellow artist?
When you have the possibility to have someone next to you who understands you completely and shares with you every step of your creative process, that is happiness.
What would you say about the contemporary Georgian art scene?
We are a talented nation and this is well-projected in the Georgian art scene. A lot of Georgian artists are successfully working abroad, and it points to the existing, great potential. However, we have a way of self-development to go.
What is your biggest inspiration today?
Each new sight can become the source of the next big inspiration: a new country with its specific architecture, a new event with its specific emotion, a new person with their specific worldview… Inspiration, like everything, is changeable.
What do you think art’s main mission is?
Dostoevsky once said: “A person requires art as much as food and water,” and I couldn’t agree more. Art is as necessary for our cultural growth as food is for our physical strength.
The modern art scene is ever-changing. What is the future of painting in this reality?
Of course, with modern technologies, painting is transforming, and this process can’t be stopped. On some level, this is very interesting. I believe that the visual and essence of art will change. So will the painters, and they might end up having richer communicating tools.
Do you have any advice for artists just starting up?
Giving advice comes with many responsibilities, but since you ask: I would advise them to listen to themselves, really get to the bottom of their interests in the arts, and find out which of them is the strongest, then develop the skills that they have natural preferences for.
All the answers are within us.
What do you think art auctions in general, and BI Auction in particular, play in promoting art?
In my opinion, BI Auction is a successful space which is ever-developing, and that makes me very happy, as it represents and helps to discover many good painters. I wish them the best of luck in this good work!
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 eight auctions and presented more than 450 paintings from 125 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
By Nini Dakhundaridze