Genevieve Goffman and Giorgi Targamadze
Curated by Gvantsa Jishkariani and David Apakidze
here are almost no similarities between these two artists practice: different mediums, materials, themes… Genevieve’s works are deconstructed, deformed, computer modeled, 3d printed objects when George’s paintings are made with a classical manner with a technological twist: his works are paintings on cardboard and super-thin metal sheets. But one main motive that unites both artists is the synthesis of working with man-made materials and symbols, elements that are undivided part of the culture that classical progress of humankind has created. Those elements are dependent on time and will eventually change or disappear: may it be a bed, castle, helicopter or machine-made metal leaf. Artists use these elements and add an immortal knowledge to it: Giorgi uses metal sheets that are product produced by factories and paints plants on them as if those plants are ones invading this machinery sterility of it. This intrude is more clearly felt and shown in Genevieve’s works: one of her sculptures middle century classical castle is being demolished by a cat that is now ruling this classical symbol of western worlds masculine power and wealth and by this it’s questioning the validity and relevance of the cultural identities created by the mankind throughout the centuries.
Both artists’ works are highlighting the temporality of culture, emphasising the cyclicality and eternity of natural processes.
Genevieve Goffman is an interdisciplinary artist from Washington D. C. Her work focuses on utopic thinking, the memories and potential futures of communism, the intersection of technology, class, and luxury, and the history of nuclear science and radiation. Goffman earned her MFA in sculpture from Yale in 2020. She’s had solo shows in Portland, Oregon, and at Lubov and Catbox Contemporary in New York. She has also shown internationally at Gallery 102 in Berlin, EXILE in Vienna, Austria, and Workroom.Daipyat in Voronezh, Russia. She has two upcoming shows in 2020 including a solo show at Money Gallery in Moscow, and another at Alyssa Davis Gallery in New York.
Giorgi Targamadze is based in Tbilisi. He mainly works in painting and installation. His creative practice is deriving from spontaneous and intuitive actions which is a try to visualise mysterious and unconscious states; when the visual language of expression is also a subject of his research.
Giorgi is a graduate of Tbilisi state academy of arts, BA in Fine Arts (class2017). Same year he studied on informal masters program at the CCA -Tbilisi.