Abstract painter Sergo Chokhoianc

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For the first time since his death, Tbilisi hosted a personal exhibition by artist Sergi Chakhoianc (1929-2008), a geometrical abstracts painter, whose non-conventional work was not well-received during his lifetime and is only now receiving recognition.

However, Sergo Chakhoianc or “Chokho” as some called him, was quite a well-known name within Georgian art circles. The painter’s collection had been kept by his family in his old workplace only to be re-discovered by art collector Ika Bokhuchava recently, who initiated and organized the exhibition which will be on display at the Fine Art Gallery until May 10.

According to art critics, Sergo is considered to be rehabilitator of fine art, having a unique sense of colors. All his work is performed in precise detail exhibiting associations of fairness, dramatism, happiness and beauty. Sergo Chakhoianc never followed what was in social demand. He was always working on what he wanted and how he felt the environment. The exhibition featured 50 of his pictorial and graphical paintings.

“I didn’t know that his real name was Sergo Chakhoianc, as all artists called him Chokho,” says young artist, George Danibegashvili. “Today I get the total impression of Sergo’s art; his paintings had rarely appeared in exhibitions. You can see that the audience received him enthusiastically, he is really a great painter.”

For Ika Bokhuchava, one of the best works by Sergo is “The Way Toward Happiness”, which is performed in a completely abstract style. This style became the painter’s favorite after his wife’s death. He always expressed his own free passion of his feelings in his paintings. Looking at his work “Happy Future”, “Warm Morning” and others, your eyes are guided into a deep world.

As his childhood friend Temur Gogsadze recalls, Sergo was not only “a great artist” but also a perfect footballer and had an interesting personality. “It is a pity that we didn’t open Sergo Chakhoianc’s museum. His art should be shared with all of the Georgian generation.”

Art critic David Andriadze agrees that Sergo’s talent needs to be properly appreciated. “His life was only painting,” he says, adding that in the 50s, many painters made serious “reforms”, though Chakho was “the particular” one.

“Me, personally, I can spell out his painting as authentic, real art. It is obvious from his paintings that he was a great intellectual,” David Andriadze told Georgia Today.

By Teona Betlemidze

26.04.2012