Do What You Love Best: Artist Noe Ioseliani

Noe Ioseliani, born in 1958, is a Georgian painter and iconographer who graduated from the Toidze Georgian Academy of Art and studied at the V. Surikov Moscow State Academy Art Institute. As an iconographer, he has painted some of the most remarkable Orthodox churches in various parts of Georgia, such as the well-known Mother of God Barakoni church in the western province of Racha. In his free time, he works on his series about “Old Georgia,” mostly painting in tempera. He is also developing a different style of art by mixing iconography and Georgian folk art. His works are full of symbolism, offering a kaleidoscope of colors and scenes which makes his works both attractive and refreshing.

He is inspired by old Georgia, a fact well-reflected in his paintings. He was influenced in his early childhood when perceiving the many traditions of Georgian people and culture, for example scenes from feasts, known as the Georgian Supra, an important part of social culture, as well as dance and song.

“When I was a child, I used to spend time with different kinds of people whom I could observe and learn from,” Ioseliani tells us. “Their hospitability, honesty and great sense of humor gave me so much. I always used to enjoy being with them. Imagine Georgian hosts and guests meeting each other over a Supra table, finding harmony and love of each other despite their differences. We really had it. All those tiny details encouraged me to feel this deeply in my childhood and to put it into my works, so I could give it new life. ‘Old Georgia’ is what I’m painting now, as best I can”.

The people he paints express a kind of staid intelligence, full of love and joy mixed with sadness; people who “can always come together, be it over loss or joy in order to celebrate life,” he says.

He adds that his paintings are a reflection of the 19-20th centuries, when Georgian culture reached a peak: great artists such as Pirosmani, and actors such as Ipolite Khvichia and Akaki Kvantaliani are his inspirations, people who are the “geniuses and history of Georgia”.

“I have painted since my childhood. I studied in Tbilisi at the Toidze Academy of Art, then in Moscow, but I got most experience working with my friend, iconographer Gia Tetunashvili, though even after ten years with him, I was left with much to learn. Most important is to remember to do what you love and do it with all your heart,” he says.

Nina Ioseliani