THE ORIEL GALLERY Igor Tcholaria
THE ORIEL GALLERY invites you to a private viewing of paintings by Igor Tcholaria on Thursday, 11th June, 2009 at 6.00 p.m. Admits two only All paintings are for sale on receipt of this catalogue FRONT COVER: The Soul of My Heart oil on canvas 37 x 29 inches Designed by Mark Nulty and Marina Sokolskaya Clare Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. Telephone/Fax: 01 676 3410 email: oriel@eircom.net website: www.theoriel.com
Thursday, 11th June, 2009 1 Igor Tcholaria FOREWORD The Oriel Gallery is proud to present, for the first time, the work of Georgian artist, Igor Tcholaria. This will be his first exhibition in Ireland, but his work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across Europe since 1988. This latest collection of paintings is said to have been the inspiration for Dior designer John Galliano s Autumn/Winter collection at Paris Fashion Week in March this year. He purchased one of Tcholaria s paintings called The Little General while visiting St. Petersburg. I hope that these works will attract the attention of art lovers and many of our well established collectors too. Mark Nulty
Igor Tcholaria 2 The Oriel Gallery Look at Me, oil on canvas, 36 x 32
Thursday, 11th June, 2009 3 Igor Tcholaria The Inner Self, oil on canvas, 32 x 28
Igor Tcholaria 4 The Oriel Gallery The Golden Dreams, oil on canvas, 34 x 26
Thursday, 11th June, 2009 5 Igor Tcholaria The Happy Couple, oil on canvas, 28 x 24
Igor Tcholaria 6 The Oriel Gallery Petrushka, oil on canvas, 29 x 37
Thursday, 11th June, 2009 7 Igor Tcholaria The Game of Love, oil on canvas, 24 x 28
Igor Tcholaria 8 The Oriel Gallery Alter Ego, oil on canvas, 24 x 20
Thursday, 11th June, 2009 9 Igor Tcholaria General on Horseback, oil on canvas, 28 x 24
Igor Tcholaria 10 The Oriel Gallery Summer Dream, oil on canvas, 39 x 37
Thursday, 11th June, 2009 11 Igor Tcholaria My Favourite Lady, oil on canvas, 28 x 20
Igor Tcholaria 12 The Oriel Gallery Marianna, oil on canvas, 32 x 24
Thursday, 11th June, 2009 13 Igor Tcholaria Elena, oil on canvas, 24 x 20
Igor Tcholaria 14 The Oriel Gallery The Dance of Passion, oil on canvas, 25 x 31
Thursday, 11th June, 2009 15 Igor Tcholaria Equilibrium, oil on canvas, 28 x 24
Igor Tcholaria 16 The Oriel Gallery
Thursday, 11th June, 2009 Igor Tcholaria IGOR TCHOLARIA Igor Tcholaria was born in 1959 in a little town of Ochamchiri on the coast of the Black Sea in Abkhazia, Georgia. Until the age of fourteen he studied in an ordinary state school. During his school days, the attentive teachers noticed his exceptional artistic talent and suggested he enter the Art College of Sukhumi, a very prestigious establishment where competition for places was always fierce. Although Sukhumi was the capital of Abkhazia, it was nonetheless situated on the periphery of a huge territory of the USSR. Over there, the ideological pressure of social realism was not felt as acutely as, say, in Moscow and especially in Leningrad. Igor successfully passed the required entrance exams and spent the next three years in the College, under the guidance of the artist Givi Guergaya. Guergaya introduced Tcholaria to the art of the French Impressionists and artists such as Modigliani and Picasso. Back in the Soviet days, these masters were viewed with great suspicion. After finishing his education at the College, Igor moved to Leningrad, entering the University of Arts named after Vera Mukhina. Although the education in the Soviet Union was completely free, Igor had to wash the floors in public toilets to make a living. He spent long periods of time at the Hermitage Museum copying the works of the distinguished old masters. He found it more enlightening to studying the manner of painting of Leonardo da Vinci, and the technique of Raphael, than attending lectures. Eventually Tcholaria and his professors came to uncompromising disagreements, and he was forced to leave the University after studying there for three years. Igor Tcholaria became a free artist, one of the first ones in the Soviet Union, who earned their living by painting portraits in the street. Then came Gorbachev s Perestroika during which Igor was noticed by the owner of Cenacolo gallery in Piacenza, Italy. Intrigued by Tcholaria s talent, the Italian art dealer offered to collaborate with him. This was the start of Tcholaria s venture abroad. It was in Italy, where he had his first solo exhibition. Then followed Greece, Belgium and Netherlands, solo exhibitions, auctions, art fairs. He was commissioned to paint two four-meter long murals for the biggest cruise liner in the world, Queen Mary II. This year he won a gold medal for his aerographics on the latest Volvo C70, which was sold at the Millionaire s Fair in Moscow by Philips de Pury. Igor Tcholaria s paintings form many famous collections around the world, including such distinguished personas as John Galliano, Luciano Pavarotti, Claudia Schiffer and many more international art collectors.
Petrushka, oil on canvas, 29 x 37 THE ORIEL GALLERY Clare Street, Dublin 2, Ireland Telephone/Fax: 01 676 3410 email: oriel@eircom.net website: www.theoriel.com