‘Sanctuary’ brings together a group of artists around the idea of storytelling. Stories painters paint - secrets, daydreams, nightmares. Stories bring clarity to the past, mark the present and imagine a future. They also provide access to images which at first glance might seem incomprehensible.
The idea for the show started as a conversation with Lisa and Nika. We discussed the atmosphere of storytelling in the works of several artists we knew here in Tbilisi. While visiting Thea Gvetadze’s studio, I began to have more of a sense of how the use of stories can be a way to access an image. As we continued to talk we began to expand the geography of the artist to include some other storytellers we know and love. One of the stories I tell about the time I have spent in Tbilisi is how my perceptions were regularly challenged in ways that felt both unsettling and beautiful. All of the artists featured have similarly challenged my experience of looking at their work and each has enriched my visual life.
This is the second version of our show which was first held at Efremidis in Berlin at the end of last year. Thank you to all the artists. Thank you to Tom Woo for the invitation to put the show together. Thank you to everyone at Efremidis and at LC Queisser. And finally, thank you to Lisa and Nika for the opportunity to put the images to the thoughts, to bring these artists together, and make our conversation a reality. - Tony Just
