To commemorate Georgian artist, Petre
Otskheli’s 110th anniversary, the TBC Bank in Tbilisi initiated Project
12 at the end of 2017. The project aims to bring the unique artworks of the
progressive Georgian painter to life in an unusual way – one of the ways is to
put a replica of his Flying Painter artwork in lights on the main street in
Tbilisi.
The project gathered 12 Georgian
artists, musicians, graphic designers and people with different backgrounds. Various artworks,
installations and projects created on Petre Otskheli’s motives were performed
using modern techniques and tools such as digital art, neon lightning, video
art, animation, 3D art, sculptural installation and electronic music. The participating
artists of the project designed individual artworks and presented Petre’s world
of art to the public in new forms.
Petre
Otskheli, born in Kutaisi, Georgia, was renowned for his contribution to the theatrical arts in the 1920s,
and was one of the most distinguished Georgian avant-garde painters of his
time. He was not only a theatre artist who created sketches and drawings for
stage productions, but a pioneer painter who paved the way in Georgian
modernism.
“We
launched Project 12 last year in partnership with VISA,” Nina Akhvlediani,
Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at TBC Bank, told GEORGIA TODAY. “The
platform was established with the purpose of supporting and promoting art in
the country … Our main aim is to popularize emerging Georgian artists and their
works among the wider public.”
Mariam
Sasha said that the project did not limit participants, so they were completely
free to express themselves. “I joined the project as a digital artist and for
my artwork I used Otskheli’s famous painting The Flying Painter,” she said.
Petre
Otskheli was not recognized in his life time, but became the first Georgian
artist to feature in the Google Cultural Institute digital gallery, the biggest
virtual association in the world incorporating the artworks of world famous
artists. “Georgian Modernist set and costume designer, who revolutionized
Georgian theatre in the 20th century was one of the most outstanding Georgian
avant-garde artists of his time,” reads the description in the Google Cultural
Institute.
In
the era of superheroes, Petre Otskheli (1907-1937) has become a superstar.
His painting, Flying Painter (1937) was created
in the last year of his young life. At the age of
30, he was shot and killed, having been put to death during Joseph Stalin’s
Great Purge, along with his colleague Sergo Amaghlobeli.
The neon lighting of Petre Otskheli's Flying Painter can be seen on the wall near Metro Rustaveli.
MARTINA NICOLLS
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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, foreign aid audits and evaluations, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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