Thea Gvetadze

Thea Gvetadze is a Georgian artist who is known for her tension-filled and symbolic compositions. She studied at the Tbilisi State Academy of Art and later attended the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Her work is highly idiosyncratic, experimenting with traditional techniques in materials like clay and textiles, and she creates enigmatic scenarios that are full of emotion and symbolism. Gvetadze's paintings are often painted directly onto black velvet, creating vivid and recondite compositions that resist the darkness of their cosmic ground.

Her solo exhibitions include "Subtropical Ushguli" at LC QUEISSER in Tbilisi in 2019, "Thea Gvetadze - Becoming Thea Merlani" at M HKA in Antwerp in 2018, and "Zeda Tsinsvla" at Gallery Nectar in Tbilisi in 2017. She has also participated in various group exhibitions, including "Invalid Memorabilia" at the Giorgi Leonidze State Museum of Literature in Tbilisi in 2018, "Block 76" at the Architecture Biennial Tbilisi in 2018, and "State of Play: Art in Georgia in 1985-1999" at the GNM Tbilisi History Museum Contemporary Art Gallery in 2017. Her work has been featured in publications such as Artforum, where her work was discussed in an article by Jens Asthoff in October 2019.