Vladimir Kandelaki - Image Familiar and Unexposed
A personal exhibition of Vladimir (Vova) Kandelaki's works, held
at the Museum of the State Academy of Fine Arts in Tbilisi on the
threshold of centuries, became an event. It was the first
exposition since his departure to the US in 1990 for the series of
exhibitions. But the things went differently and the painter -
invited for several months, still lives in Philadelphia. The
artist managed to retain his creative personality, saving himself
from getting lost while mixing in hundreds of aspiring and fame-
and fortune-seeking artists, streaming to the US.
A wonderfully published album dedicated to his art contains more
than 250 reproductions of Kandelaki's works. The video-material of
his family archives is preceeded by a foreword, written by a
well-known researcher and collector, Norton Dodge, Professor
Emeritus of St. Mary College in Maryland, Doctor of economics; the
list of other authors includes Thora Jacobson, Director of
S.Fleisher Memorial Center of Art, Mattew Bagel, Professor of
Rutgers University, Janet Kennedy, Professor of Indiana
University, Doctor of Philosophy. Their essays explicitly present
Kandelaki's art, the story of his development into a nonconformist
artist, and the trends and directions of the painter's creative
experimentation. In fact, this album helped not only Americans to
get a glimpse of the artist's inner world, but his homeland as
well; likewise, the Georgians too, got a chance to see the works
created during the last decade in the US.
The forefathers of Vladimir (Vova) Kandelaki traditionally
belonged to the clergy and were outstanding public figures. From
his early teens, Vova grew in an exceptional atmosphere of
appreciation and love of art and literature. From his early
childhood, a peculiar feeling of pride for his worthy ancestors -
brave servicemen and officers and charming ladies of not so recent
past. His first steps in art were guided by his father, Andro
Kandelaki, a well-known graphic artist. Vova was lucky to have
teachers of great fame and stance: Valentin Sherpilov, Vassily
Shukhaev, Dimitri Gabashvili, Apollon Kutateladze, Ucha Japaridze
and Gogi Totibadze. Especially warm are his feelings towards Sergo
Kobuladze, a great personality and great artist, who left a
strong imprint of gratitude in the youth's heart and memory.
After the graduation, Vladimir Kandelaki joined the general scene
of art life with a lot of enthusiasm and energy. Very soon his
works appeared on various exhibitions - including his personal one
- in Georgia, Russia, Finland, Germany, Cuba, Belgium, Turkey,
Italy, the US and other countries. Alongside, he was engaged in a
permanent struggle for his self-assertion, since the general
situation in the USSR constantly initiated various kinds of
hindering problems and a general unfavorable attitude towards
artistic individualities. Due to Vova's inherently emotional
character and spontaneity, he had conflicts continuously - either
with establishment or bureaucracy. He would have to face a loosing
battle with the problems of routine existence, were it not for
people who arranged to save him from the inevitable and awaiting
boredom and provided him with the possibility to engross in
creative work and travels, that enriched him with the whole number
of items, which constitute his considerable collection of
ethnographic objects and rarities.
V.Kandelaki's characteristic art is multi-faceted, with a variety
of genres and themes. While studying the early stage of his art,
we notice a great deal of place given to the historical themes of
the Georgian past; a point of interest should be attributed to
compositions, thematically relevant to the life-stories of the
outstanding personalities. The portraits represent the famous
king - David Aghmashenebeli (the Builder) and the "founding
fathers" of academies in Gelati and Ikalto, and the well-known XII
century centers of science. In 1966, V.Kandelaki completed a
series of works, based on the themes and motives of Shota
Rustaveli's poem "The Knight in the Tiger's Skin". The artist
presented the work at the exhibition dedicated to the poem's 800
anniversary. Such step seemed - and actually, was perceived as
bold, since the exhibition was a praiseworthy challenge for a
number of well-known artists, and his favorite teacher, Sergo
Kobuladze among them; competing with famous masters, was equally a
challenge and a risk. Yet, still youthful Kandelaki succeeded in
the role of a worthy competitor, confronting the famous
illustrators. The compositions already prove Vladimir Kandelaki's
great interest towards ancient Georgian art, and his knowledge of
mural painting, and art of frescoes and miniature.
A serious impulse to Kandelaki's art had been given by his
extensive travelling in various regions of Georgia. The great
French painters -Delacroix, Matisse - used to get inspiration in
the exotica of Algeria, Marocco, Tunis; Pshavi, Khevsureti,
Tusheti and Svaneti, played the same role for the generations of
Georgian painters. A number of Kandelaki's works depict the
fairy-tale beauty of those landscapes, local architecture and
everyday life of people, with their colorful festivities.
The core and the foundation of the style, Kandelaki meticulously
developed, implied and embraced the unity of modern and
traditional, with his memories of the ancestors, and infuse a
tendency and ability to transform reality - with rich fantasy. A
mere glimpse at his works immediately shows a concoction of
features characteristic to ancient Georgian art - with the proofs
of the influences of the XX century Western painting.
Another important point concerning Kandelaki's art, is its cyclic
nature and qualities. He likes to return to some motives,
developing the variations and enriching them with new details and
elements. His favorite themes embrace reminiscences of his
childhood, scenes of religious or public festivities, colorful
parades and festivals. While the initial conceptual drawings can
be - and are interpreted as conventional genre creations - in his
larger panoramic compositions, the painter modifies and transforms
real objects, increases their size and thus, injects a symbolic
meaning and charge into the concrete things and objects.
The city of Tbilisi appears as the main protagonist of his art -
together with the post-war period of hardships - and yet, so fill
of joy of life for the whole generation of children, with their
games and pastimes, their relationships, values, and the
indispensable attributes of their self-assertion. The attitude of
the painter is clearly ellegic, recollecting the idyllic and
idealized realm, already belonging to the past. His
mythologization of \ Tbilisi mode - and way of life,
transforms the ball-size "pregnancy" of a I clay wine-jug - into
a balcony-belted house, an ordinary and common knucklebone becomes
a playground; in paintings emerges the dominance of items,
epitomizing the gone-away childhood and the old city: they |
include a bull's shoulder-blade - symbol of unrestrained
traditional feast-ing, a paper-bird, a corncob, a bunch of grapes,
a tender-green traditional' Eastern tiny cornfield on a vast flat
plate... The interest in folk traditions i is still present in
works, done by Kandelaki in the United States, where the
composition describes a Halloween festivity, and a procession of
celebrating people in the streets of Philadelphia is romanticized
by traditional characters and an imposing pumpkin, mounted on a
traditional cart..
Prophetic paintings of Vladimir Kandelaki, created long before the
Perestroika epoch with a diverse approach and a novelty in spirit
and political character - under the general title of "A Festive
procession", ignites a special interest of art critics. A
nonconformist art, developed in a totalitarian world, in case of
Kandelaki, leaves a definitely distinctive impression, and his
creative work shows his difference from other artist of the mutual
Soviet background. Among the attractions of his manner, is
certainly, his sense of humor and inexhaustible wit. His
originality is charming, his symbolic vision - appealing. The
artist's grotesque universe is filled with constructions,
unstable like Soviet empire, which cradle in their diverse
variety, a notorious image of a so-called "llyich bulb" that used
to epitomize in Soviet propaganda, a kind of "a cloudless future,
victorious over world capitalism"; or, a playing-cards house
-grandiose like the Tower of Babel - may convey the same idea of
instability in the constructions. Separate elements of hyperbole,
together with the popular Soviet slogans, increase the comic side
of the whole situation. The triptych, "A playing-cards house:
morning, noon, evening" -transforms that comic part into a tragic
element.
Back in the 1930-ies, an eminent Georgian painter, created a
canvas: a happy Georgian family under the llyich bulb electric
light. Several decades later, Vladimir Kandelaki creates a series
of sarcastic compositions, illustrating the fall and degradation
of the Empire. A horrifying title of his popular work - "Lenin in
Washington, DC" - presents Lenin's portrait on a Soviet banknote
fluttering like a banner over the Capitol. It may well be, the
painting deserves to be included into the Guinness Book of World
Records, for a canvas with a Russian ruble - considering the
exchange rate of the period - was sold for a million times bigger
price in 1993, at a popular auction in the United States.
Vladimir Kandelaki is one of the foremost Georgian artists, who
produced nonconformist works at the hard and unfavorable period
of Stagnation. His works in oil ran parallel to his popart
creations and present a period of relevant and common characters
and also, the mood and a general atmosphere. In fact, we can
consider the works of object art -a unified collection,
concentrated on one personality - that of the artist himself. Its
conditional title is - "A studio of an artist". But it can be
equally linked with his biography, since "My ancestors", "A
cradle of my art", "My family chest", 'My yoke" - all they are
dedicated to several generations of the painter's family.
According to the artist, his paintings resemble archeological
layers or strata, depicting the history with its tragic sides,
contrasts, and real-life details. A peculiar sad charm can be
traced in his compositions: "A bookstand", "A saddle", "A screen"
- with brave officers of tsar's army, and charming ladies with
fans, smart hats, lorgnettes; or old post-cards and fragments of
old oil-canvases. The basic objects the artist used - a fiber
suitcase, a cradle, a palette, a bookstand - are perceived as
certain marks of other epoch; the other things -like a globe, an
old kerosene lamp, worn out post-cards - they play the rale of
accompaniment.
Several works are dedicated to the people's traditions, their way
of life, and the motives of Dionysus, the god of wine, merge with
the present epoch. The composition, on the one hand - show all
the attributes of a Georgian feast table, but on the other hand -
show an ironic attitude towards - once so wonderful traditions -
and so limited in outlook now. To Georgian traditions is dedicated
also his other work: "Christmas in Georgia with the chichilaki
piece".
A special attention deserves a five-part piece of work - "A
screen". In it we can see all his skills, used in popart,
concentrated: they include the decorative aspects and also, the
concept of composition, and the principle of selection of the
elements. These works justify the approach, suitable to the
living things: the exhibits do change; they accumulate new
details, loose some old ones, and never cease their development -
like the life of the artist himself. The main point, which never
changes, is the artists unyielding strive for the harmony, and his
inbred love of every object or detail.
Another characteristic detail of Kandelaki's art is a strong sense
of humor which varies from warm mild smile - to sarcasm. Its
significant proof is visible in compositions dedicated to the
period of the Soviet empire. His memories present a vast panorama
of Soviet life-style, encompassing the routine and standards of
Soviet apartment block flats with their typical interior, and with
their must of an electric meter and llyich bulbs - alongside a
St.George icon and dismantled clock; next to that we see a mock-up
of a playing-cards house decorated with typical Soviet slogans and
other attributes of Soviet ways, including the idyllic postcards,
reflecting the cloudless happiness of childhood in the USSR.
And once again we are facing the contradictory universe of sweet
childhood memories - versus an empire, pulling down right in
front of us like a playing-cards house.
A series of poparts, called "My studio", present a clear image of
the artist's creative process, as well as of the artistic
environment. Each object and every single thing are a constituent
part of the artist's life. Unlike some other representatives of
popart, Kandelaki never tooks for the needed details of his
compositions at some dumping grounds or scrapheaps or "car
graveyards"; all the things and objects of his compositions, are
organic part of his personal life and experience. For Kandelaki it
is so easy to transform a common object, lacking any element of -
or even hint at poetry - into a model of high artistic value.
Therefore, every piece of his work bears an imprint of some
movement of his soul and spirit. In 1990, at a television
broadcast, held after an exhibition in Warsaw, a well-known poet,
Andre Bril said: "'Kandelaki's canvas - "An autumn festivity in
Tbilisi" is a self-portrait of Georgia, its best calling card". A
well- known American art critic and researcher, Robin Rice,
especially underlines the presence of kindness in Kandelaki's
paintings: "A kind artist" - that's what he calls Vladimir
Kandelaki.
Just recently, the artist appeared as the founder of his own,
Vladimir Kandelaki Foundation. Within a short period, the
Foundation has already published Sergo Kobuladze research on the
golden section, and a collection of articles on Georgian culture.
The Foundation is also planning to materialize the artist's
life-time dream - that of erecting a special building on the
territory of the Open Air Museum in Tbilisi, with the exposition
of items Vladimir Kandelaki had been meticulously collecting
during his life: Caucasian arms and weapons, musical instruments
of Caucasian nations, household utensils and so forth. The proof
of the quality of that collection is the planned exhibition of
that collection in the Moscow Kremlin "Orujeynaya palata" at the
end of 2000, the fact - and honor -that rarely falls to a private
person.
The new exhibition, as well as the activities of the foundation,
disclosed a new image of Vladimir Kandelaki's creativity - both,
familiar -yet, in many ways, still unexposed. We can consider him
an ambassador of Georgian culture - wherever his art is presented.
A matter of joy and content is, that the success he achieves
abroad - whether spiritual or material, Kandelaki shares with -
and attributes to his own native land.
NINO ZAALISHVILI
Artist, art critic Chair, Georgian Association of Artists |
