#2 Hot Coffee with an Artist
Series of conversations by Nina Mdivani
A cup of coffee with Georgian artist Rusudan Khizanishvili in Berlin
Rusudan Khizanishvili is a contemporary Georgian artist who uses her exceptional sense of color and plasticity to engage with the acute problems of spirituality, duality of human nature, a schism between instinctual and intellectual modes of life. She paints people around her, but as for Lucian Freud all her investigations with outside models are indeed explorations of her own nature. Although Khizanishvili comes from Eastern Europe her visual language is less influenced by the local traditions and self-stereotyping, and is more in conversation with the western representational discourse. Her figures are intertwined, furry, and naked, but in the end all of them are human.
Rusudan Khizanishvili, Portrait in the front of the painting, 2022
Oil on canvas, 120 x 80 cm Nina Mdivani: Where are you sitting right now for this coffee? What are the three things you see?
Rusudan Khizanishvili: I am sitting at the table in the artists’ apartment of Kornfeld Gallery located by the Volkspark in Berlin. I came here for three weeks for my solo exhibition opening, which is rather unusual. Actually, I cannot afford myself to make such a break between paintings and suddenly have found a solution by making a pop-up residency at the apartment. Now I am making series of works on paper, in front of me is the table with the works in progress and the window with absolutely incredible landscape of autumn trees.
NM: What is the most exciting event that is coming up in the next weeks for you?
RK: As I have mentioned above, I am here for my forthcoming solo show Beauty and The Beast at Kornfeld Galerie. I am very excited about this exhibition because it is my first solo at the gallery. In 2020 I had a solo in 68 Projects, a project space functioning as a lab. Since the beginning of 2022 I am officially represented by Kornfeld Galerie, being on this position is another step up.
Rusudan Khizanishvili, Reading Orwell, 2022. Oil on canvas, 100 x 120 cm NM: “Beauty and the Beast”- why this title? How many works will be in the show and how are they tied to each other?
RK: Up to this day my art has been dedicated to a Human being, a Person, their relationship both with society and themselves. Humans who have lost their humanity, completely forgotten about their main purpose in this world. The exhibition Beauty and the Beast combines two series of works recently created. One is centered around the visual concept of a sacrificial lamb, while others explore the opposition between Beauty and a Beast. I started preparing for this exhibition last year. All that you will see is all about the fragility and strength of human being. The canvas becomes the stage and all the protagonists are acting a certain role in the play. The play they are performing seems familiar, but the ending is open to every viewer. There is the eternal question about duality of human existence, the wild part and the civilized part, we are endlessly in search which one is true to us and which one was adopted. We are trying to recognize ourselves through the mystery of existence.
Rusudan Khizanishvili, Counting Hair, 2022. Oil on canvas, 100 x 90 cm 
Rusudan Khizanishvili, Sacred and Profane Love 2021. Oil on canvas 130 x 70 cm. NM: Who is this furry beast? Is it an embodiment of our instincts, the Other whom we never fully know, but who is always present?
RK: The Beast wears a furry and intimidating costume, while Beauty is frail and defenseless in her naked body. She is absolutely powerless and very vulnerable, but this vulnerability has become her strength. And Yeti is a mysterious being who have been never seen, but believed. Yet, simultaneously the Beast, the furry Man is also a stand in for a masculine, hegemonic Georgian patriarchy. In Georgia women are still naked and objectified for and by this patriarch.
NM: What do you think of Berlin? It has been often said recently that Tbilisi is a new Berlin, do you agree with this?
RK: Berlin is a very comfortable city, it’s fully open and relaxing, I really enjoy just breathing and collecting sounds and visual signs. I do not want to rush around, want to enjoy the city vibe piece by piece. And maybe that’s true about Berlin and Tbilisi. Berlin is connected to its art life in a similar way as art and fashion are connected within Tbilisi urban landscape, the vibes and historical relationships are always behind. We are much closer than it appears.
Rusudan Khizanishvili, Mandragora's Dream 2021. Oil on canvas, 120 x 50 cm - RUSUDAN KHIZANISHVILI “Beauty and the Beast” will be on view at GALERIE KORNFELD in Berlin from 05.Nov 2022 until 07.Jan 2023 > READ MORE
