“Gudiashvili created an aesthetic system by means of which he turned nature into a symbol, man into a mythical character, and history into a legend,” – Ilia Zautashvili.

For Georgia, the 20th century is marked by problematic events, complexities, and a variety of novelties. Located at the crossroads of East and West along the Silk Road, at the turn of the century this country of ancient civilization found itself at the center of European cultural influences, old and new movements, as well as traditions and rapid innovations. This process was reflected in a clear and unique manner in Lado Gudiashvili’s work.

Lado Gudiashvili’s style is quite special and combines Eastern aesthetics, philosophical thinking and allegorical worldview, the stylistic parameters from different epochs, the traditions of Georgian wall-painting and miniatures, the boldness of Western art, the symbolism of Modernism, the poetic character of artistic images, elements of Cubism and Avant-garde, and topics determined by the necessities of Social Realism. Gudiashvili’s art was created through a synthesis of this diversity. It combines romance, symbolism and everyday life, irrational metamorphoses and subconscious impulses, a world of dreams, mythical characters, and details from fairy tales. His works bear the signs of fine art, and their clearly decorative elements are marked by perfect lines, stylized figurative plasticity, ornaments, dynamic colors, pulsating strokes, and flashes of light from the color spectrum. Gudiashvili’s figurative images manifest the specific passion, rhythm and plasticity of Georgian national dance.

The power of national culture, the dynamics of Modernism, his work in Paris, the originality of his position, his worldview and fabulous imagination all combine to turn Lado Gudiashvili into a phenomenon.

Baia Tsikoridze