Report from Ejecutivos magazine
Lika Shkhvatsabaia (Tbilisi, Georgia, 1980), daughter of a famous Georgian sculptor, studied Fine Arts in her country and has lived in Spain for four years. Before that, she spent some time in New York. Recently, she has exhibited her work at Club 567 and at the Casa de Vacas Cultural Centre in Madrid.
How would you define your painting?
My work generally belongs to abstract expressionism, but it also has a lot of color and belongs to figurative art. I work individually, I have been linked to painting all my life because I grew up in this environment. My father is a sculptor and painter and I grew up among artists in Georgia, my native country. Since then, I have exhibited in several countries such as Spain, Russia, Italy, Portugal, Greece, etc. The main purpose of painting is to express my feelings in color, and my ways of constructing or composing are linked to abstraction, to the physical, to strength and to matter. The predominance and intensity that I carry out with the uses of color, as well as the nuances that it allows me to offer, help me to sublimate the most emotional and intimate side on the canvas.
How do you compose a painting?
In general, I am inspired by life, every moment of the day, by music, by ancient painters. I am very inspired by the process of working on the canvas, creating the work, the search for tools that can transform and modify many things in my painting. On many occasions, the canvases have their origin in themselves and build like an autonomous organism that germinates and extends through a process of clear artistic development, a very intimate process. An idea in its purest state that is transferred into the material from my most creative cerebral side.
Your painting is defined as colorful, do you feel comfortable with this adjective?
Of course, through color I express my deepest feelings with varying intensity. My painting is colorful because it has a lot of energy and all of that is transmitted to the work.
Could you describe your latest collection?
My latest collection is a series about Madrid, as I love this city and it has welcomed me with open arms since I arrived. As a tribute, I decided to create this series about the Spanish capital with various canvas sizes. I feel very happy in this city. In the work I recreate views of the Retiro Park, the Crystal Palace, Cibeles, Gran Via... all in a subjective way.
How does Madrid influence your painting?
There has been a significant change on a personal level and this fact is very noticeable in my work. To make art in general, I think that you have to be more alone with yourself to think, to work, in a deeper way.
Which Spanish painters have influenced you?
Velázquez and El Greco are my favourites, they give me a particular feeling. I remember the first time I arrived in Madrid, full of joy and happiness to see the Prado Museum. I was very excited and since then I have had a pleasant experience with the exhibitions I have carried out in this country.
What artistic trends do you consider most relevant today?
It depends on the exhibition and the visitors. For example, I generally have more abstract work, but without losing the connection with nature. I always think that when there is something alive in the work, it is much more interesting and it makes sense that each person can feel that when looking at a work.
How is the painting scene in Spain?
It is quite interesting, especially contemporary art. Now, speaking in general about the current state of painting on a global level, I think it is difficult to agree with some ideas. The emphasis is on the artist's self-expression in the desire of the art market, in its commodification. This leads the artist down a path that is difficult to understand and distances him from true art. Despite trends, artists should always be close to nature and their cultural origins.
You have three paintings depicting Don Quixote and Dulcinea. What inspired you to create them?
Because a few years ago I participated in the tribute to Cervantes in a Madrid gallery and for this exhibition I made several works, such as “The path of Don Quixote and Dulcinea”, a portrait of women as I see them.
What is the cultural situation in Georgia?
I am very proud because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia awarded me the prize for the best painting of the year to promote Georgian culture abroad. I really think that I feel so good and love Spain so much because it has so much in common with Georgia.
Ejecutivos
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