Matiko Mamaladze
"I take them from life.... My paintings have more soul," Matiko says about her work in a
Born in the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia in 1964, Matiko Mamaladze grew up in an artistic household, surrounded with images painted by her mother and her late grandfather. This atmosphere so pervaded her early life that drawing and painting became necessities she could not live without.
While Matiko formally started painting by setting out to copy the works of her grandfather, a well-known artist and renowned art-professor of his time; she matured in her own right by experimenting. By the late 1980s, Matiko's unique color spectrum and painting technique developed under study at the Nikoladze Art School and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tbilisi.
Different things inspire me. People, nature, mood or simple everyday events. I try to express their internal nature, using colors and emotional line, avoiding a simple copy. The feeling born within the painting is of primary importance for me.
Often entirely executed with a palette knife - a method that many artists won't dare use - Matiko's works create the illusion of a velvety, paint-saturated third dimension. Beyond the light, here, color creates shape and baffles one's sense of perception. Matiko abandons preliminary sketches: when she starts, her only concern is to build an emotionally charged and deeply meaningful scene. It is her innate compositional balance and technical skill that allows this to happen.
Painting is my passion, escape, and amusement. When I'm tired I play piano or guitar and sing along. Music makes new feelings accumulate, providing me with the raw material for the future projects.... Stopping painting for an extended period of time is out of question - I would simply lose the connection with myself. That's why having a supportive and understanding family is so important for me.
Matiko Mamaladze is an award-winning artist and her paintings can be found in many private collections throughout Europe and The United States.
