Georgian artist Zura Gugulashvili creates watercolor landscapes that filter the past, present, and perceptual in psychedelic explosions of color. Unconventionally, he uses a brush attached to a long wooden stick, which he dips in paint mixed with copious amounts of water. This technique produces broad, loose markings and a dappled, washed-out effect, which gives a sense of movement and expansion to his work. An industrial designer by trade, Gugulashvili felt the need to break off from the precision and regularity dictated by the profession. “It took me a long time to learn how to free my mind, push the specifics to the background and convey energy and charge in my work,” he explained. “My artwork does not come from the process of thinking. It just comes from my emotions.”

Through the lens of his sensibility, Gugulashvili elaborates historical memories-such as in Krtsanisy Poppies, a commemoration of the Battle of Krtsanisi, which saw the Georgians crushingly defeated by the Persian army, following Russia’s refusal to intervene–as well as current topics, including the pandemic in Doctor’s Hands and the threat of an ecological disaster in Apocalipsis. He equally addresses biblical themes as in Apple Tree, inspired by the Garden of Eden, and existential questions, as in Night on Earth, pondering over human life on our planet. “The purpose of my works is to arouse both positive and negative emotions in the viewer and, accordingly, to make people think and awaken the human in them.”