Exhibition "Persons - Zurab Tsereteli"

Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli was born on January 4, 1934 in Tbilisi (Georgia). For the first time in Liechtenstein there will be a personal exhibition of the artist dedicated to his 85th birthday, as part of a cultural exchange supported by the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition will feature paintings and drawings, whose plots are based on traditions, folklore, myths and religious motives. Different facets of the artist’s personality, both hidden from view and public, show their depth in apparent simplicity. Zurab Tsereteli, president of the Russian Academy of Arts, is one of the largest contemporary artists. He received many awards, received the title of UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and the Knight’s Order of the Legion of Honor (France). Recently, he was also awarded the Dostlug Friendship Order from the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

First of all, the artist is known for his impressive monumental sculptures and monuments located in different parts of the world. Busts of Yuri Gargarin and Leo Tolstoy adorn the square in Montevideo. A memorial to the victims of the Holocaust stands in Jerusalem. Among his sculptural works are Nikolai Gogol in Rome, St. Nicholas in Bari, “Good conquers evil” in front of the UN headquarters in New York, a monument to Peter I and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, “Tear of sorrow” in memory of those who died during the September 11 terrorist attack in Bayonne, New Jersey, the “Birth of a new man” in Seville, the Founding Fathers of the European Union in Ski Chazelle, France, and the monument to Pope John Paul II near Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

The word “monumentality” best describes the art of Zurab Tsereteli: everything that he created is monumental - his sculptures, paintings, drawings. Monumentality in this case means greatness, grandeur in the best sense of the word, something significant and exalted in the scale of human creations. His works are permeated with religious feeling and mythological motives.

His paintings and drawings are similar to his sculptures. In the paintings of Zurab Tsereteli, bright colors are applied with thick and wide strokes, depicting fuzzy silhouettes with distorted proportions and a shifted perspective. They resemble Georgian-Russian folklore. His work is impulsive and inspired by immediate experiences and emotions. They feel the sincerity and authenticity of the national character of the artist, permeated with a love of nature, which is characterized by decency in all thoughts and an inextricable connection with traditions.

Zurab Tsereteli is also an exceptional draftsman. It is with the drawings that each of his work begins. They form the basis of his sculptures and paintings.

Upland, monumentality, national traditions, religious and mythological subjects elevate his works and make them unique and timeless.