Biography
Lado Pochkhua was born in Sokhumi, Georgia in 1970. He graduated from the Sokhumi College of Art in 1994 and the Tbilisi Academy of Art in 2001. He has had personal exhibitions in TMS Gallery and Old Gallery in Tbilisi, and has participated in ten major group exhibitions, including in the Georgian Embassy in London, UNESCO in Paris, and in the Tbilisi History Museum (Carvasla) and the National Gallery of Art. He has participated in international projects in Russia and Azerbaijan, and has lived and worked in Georgia, Russia, Azerbaijan, the United States, and Hungary, where he currently resides.

Exhibitions
Washington Street Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan (2005-2006)

• Visiting Artist

Georgian Embassy, London (2004)

• One of 23 featured ‘Best Artists of Georgia.’

Caravasla Tbilisi History Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia (2003)

• Generational Retrospective “Curriculum Vitae” of 20 th century Georgian art
• Selected to represent youngest generation of modern art in historical catalogue

Old Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia (1999-2004)

• One-man exhibition, “Works on Paper” 2004
• One-man exhibition “Invented and Borrowed Pictures” 2001
• Group exhibition of conceptual work on Thomas Moore, “Utopia” 2001
• One-man exhibition, “Magical Geography” 2000
• Two-man exhibition, “Paintings and Graphic Works” 1999

Club 22, Tbilisi, Georgia (2002-2003)

• One-man exhibition, “Waiting for the Barbarians” 2003
• Two-person exhibition, “Trivial” 2002

State Exhibition Hall “S. Bakhul-Zade”, Baku, Azerbaijan (2001)

• “Orientalism: Inside and Outside” Biennale contemporary artists of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
• Exhibited large prize-winning 3- and 2-dimensional works in photography, glass, and other media.

Art Gallery, Telleborg, Sweden (1997)

• Group exhibition of abstract art

“Gift” Festival, State Museum of Tbilisi, Georgia (1997)

• International festival of Georgian and Scottish artists

Életrajz
Lado Pochkhua 1970-ben született Sokhumiban, Grúziában. 1994-ben végzett a Sokhumi Művészeti Iskolában, 2001-ben pedig a Tbilisi Művészeti Egyetemen. Egyéni kiállításai a TMS Galériában és Régi Galériában Tbiliszi-ben voltak és részt vett tíz nagyobb csoportos kiállításon, beleértve a Londoni Grúz nagykövetséget, a párizsi UNESCO székházat és a Tbiliszi Történeti Múzeumot (Carvasla), illetve a Nemzeti Galériát. Oroszországban és Azerbajdzsánban részt vett nemzetközi projektekben, élt és dolgozott Grúziában, Oroszországban, Azerbajdzsánban, az USA-ban és Magyarországon, ahol jelenleg is él.

Kiállítások
Washington Street Galéria, Ann Arbor, Michigan (2005-2006)

• A látogató művész

Grúz Nagykövetség, London (2004)

• Egy a  23-ból  ’Grúzia legjobb művészei’

Caravasla Tbiliszi Történeti Múzeum, Tbiliszi, Grúzia (2003):

• Generációs Retrospektíva  – “Curriculum Vitae” a 20. századi grúz művészetről
• kiválasztották a modern művészet legfiatalabb generációjának képviselőjeként a történelmi katalógusba

Régi Galéria, Tbiliszi, Grúzia (1999-2004)

• Egyéni kiállítás, “Alkotások papírra” 2004
• Egyéni kiállítás “Kitalált és kölcsönzött képek” 2001
• Csoportos kiállítás Thomas Moore, “Utópia” című művére 2001
• Egyéni kiállítás, “Mágikus földrajz” 2000
• Kétszemélyes kiállítás, “Festmények és grafikák” 1999

Club 22, Tbiliszi, Grúzia (2002-2003)

• Egyéni kiállítás, “A barbárokra várva” 2003
• Kétszemélyes kiállítás, “Triviális” 2002

Állami Kiállítóterem “S. Bakhul-Zade”, Baku, Azerbajdzsán (2001)

• “Orientalizmus: Kívül és Belül” Az azeri, grúz, iráni, török, türkmén és üzbég kortárs művészek biennáléja
• Nagyméretű díjazott 2 és 3-dimenziós alkotások, fotók, üveg és más médián

Művészeti Galéria, Telleborg, Svédország (1997)

• Absztrakt művészeti csoportos kiállítás

“Ajándék” Fesztivál, Tbiliszi Állami Múzeum, Grúzia (1997)

• Grúz és skót művészek nemzetközi fesztiválja

You do not often hear an artist admitting that the title he or she has chosen for an exhibition sounds pretentious, but that’s exactly how Georgian artist Lado Pochkhua describes the title of his latest show The Anatomy of Melancholia. Such frankness is refreshing in an art world were pretentiousness often rules the roost, and Pochkhua’s art itself is just as refreshing as his approach.

Pochkhua, 38, is an energetic figure and his enthusiasm for his field is clear. Much of his work is based on old photographs that he picks up in the flea markets of Budapest. He then either draws the images in pen and ink or transfers them onto canvas using acrylic medium. This is just the beginning, though. After that Pochkhua,  who studied at the Tbilisi Academy of Art and has exhibited in US, Sweden and Georgia as well as Hungary, takes the simple image and transforms it into what he calls a “memoryscape”.

“My impulse is to take something that is vanishing and bring it new life,” he says. “I want to create a new relationship between colours, images and characters.”

1930s Hungary

At the moment many of the images Pochkhua unearths are from the 1930s. You can feel the past in his paintings, which build images of people playing tennis, youngsters at school, or gentlemen in old bathing suits into a landscape of muted colours.

While most of the time Pochkhua feels that the people in the pictures are not as important as the impression the work gives the viewer, he also occasionally unearths an image that captures as specific moment in history.

“I have an amazing image of nine girls in white dresses, standing in  formation holding balls and with very happy faces,” he says. “On the rear of the photo is the date: 29 August, 1939 [just before the start of the Second World War]. They are hours from tragedy and there is no feeling of that in the picture.”

Keeping busy

And as for the “pretentious” title of the exhibition, Pochkhua took it from the title of 17th century book by Robert Barton, in which the author attempts to classify and cure all different types of melancholia. Pochkhua began reading the book when he went through an initially tough time upon arriving in a dark, unwelcoming and “melancholy” Budapest in November 2006.

Barton admitted he studied melancholia in an effort to keep busy and therefore avoid his own melancholia. The Georgian artist adopted this approach in Budapest, and has become prolific.

With no shortage of flea markets in Budapest, you can be sure that Pochkhua won’t run out of inspiration.