Otar Chkhartishvili – Georgian collage artist

Otar Chkhartishvili (1938-2006) was a Georgian oil painter and graphic artist, specializing in collage and assemblage.

Chkhartishvili studied at the Tbilisi Academy of Fine Arts. He was expelled three time for his unconventional thinking and for protesting against the school’s teaching methods, but always re-instated due to his talents.

He participated in the legendary ‘Bulldozer Exhibition’ and remained avant-garde and a rebel. He befriended the Moscow underground movement with artist Evgeny (Zhenya) Rukhin and exhibited a number of experimental artworks, especially associated with Soviet images and symbols.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- 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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