ARTIST STATEMENT

Amiko Kalandadze (*1983) studied Contextual Painting in Ashley Hans Scheirl´s master class at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. He lives and works in Vienna.

„Freedom is paradise“

... is what an ancient Eastern European proverb says, and it perfectly matches Kalandadze´s work in two ways: Technically he moves far from the boundaries of traditional genres-in a wide, open space between concept, painting and sculpture.

Like a stage builder he creates small worlds of multifarious assemblages made from old photographs, drawings, texts and comics. These he enhances into the third dimension by complementing them with paint, modifying them or combining them with found objects, copper, plastic, epoxide or cyber trash.

Amiko Kalandadze´s sinister sceneries instantly capture their spectators. Each of his creations tells its very own story of the dark sides of life, the fringes of society, that what is concealed and often kept silent, that what is part of being human deep within. He dives deep into our abysses, but his view stays objective and never is judging. In an almost documentary way he elaborates pieces where influences become indistinct -he confronts experience with rumor, street chatter with high culture, and past with future.

Text: David Hassbach