Catalogue of new artworks accompanying the solo London exhibition by Mamuka Dideba - aka "Georgia's Brueghel" - a master of figurative and abstract
MAMUKA DIDEBA URBAN ALLUSIONS
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MAMUKA DIDEBASHVILI URBAN ALLUSIONS
www.katrinelevin.com
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Foreword by Katrine Levin
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Artworks
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Urban Allusions 4-13
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Katrine Levin Gallery
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Mamuka Dideba
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URBAN ALLUSIONS by Katrine Levin, founder Katrine Levin Galleries
Showcasing Dideba’s mastery of both figurative and abstract, Urban Allusions is a celebration of human creativity and the enduring power of knowledge. The exhibition begins with Prometheus stealing the fire of knowledge from the Gods on Mount Olympus. Shared with humans, the knowledge lights the way to the ever expanding creation of great civilisations. Dideba’s abstract paintings take you to magical cities built of an ingenious interplay of light and colour, imperceptibly changing tones, and evocative shapes. There, the colours of day and night appear together, symbolising the ongoing cycle of creation and renewal. Inspired in part by the magical realism of Italo Calvino, these fantastical cities are fragments of ourselves reflected back at us, perceived through our own individual lens of past memories and future aspirations. Inspired by the Old Masters, Dideba’s figurative paintings present the cities’ quirky inhabitants who seem to exist outside of time. They too are aspects of humanity and ourselves, who in the trial and error of creation at various times feel like a Prometheus, a Harlequin, or a Triumphant.
The Urban Allusions journey is a beautiful reminder that cities are more than a conglomeration of people and buildings, they are spaces where our shared values, dreams, and hopes converge. Running through 14 September 2024, the exhibition marks Dideba’s first return to London after his critically acclaimed solo exhibition with us in 2019. Dideba paints in the Renaissance imprimatura technique that requires enormous skill and patience. He is a ! ectionately dubbed Georgia’s Brueghel because of his deviation from realistic proportions and interest in human behaviour. His art is a unique expression of the wonder and the often surreal and warm philosophical outlook that is quintessential of the wondrous country of Georgia where he lives and works. Born in 1968 in Tbilisi, Georgia, Dideba is widely exhibited and collected in Georgia and internationally.
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PROMETHEUS 2024
OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 153 X 102 CM
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OLYMPUS
OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 153 X 102 CM
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Prometheus and Olympus are sold as individual works but together they form a powerful diptych conjuring the myth of Prometheus stealing for us mortals the fire - symbolic of knowledge - from the Gods on Mount Olympus.
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TRIUMPHANT 2014
OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 104 X 56 CM
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HARLEQUIN 2015
OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 104 X 64 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 1 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 50 X 55 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 2 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 50 X 55 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 3 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 90 X 100 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 14 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 100 X 90 CM
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INVISIBLE CITY 2018
OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 110 X 105 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 15 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 90 X 110 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 4 -13 EACH 70 X 65 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 4 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 70 X 65 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 5 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 70 X 65 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 6 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 70 X 65 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 7 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 70 X 65 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 8 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 70 X 65 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 13 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 70 X 65 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 9 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 70 X 65 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 10 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 70 X 65 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 11 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 70 X 65 CM
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URBAN ALLUSIONS 12 2024 OIL AND GLAZING ON CANVAS 70 X 65 CM
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EXTRAORDINARY ARTISTS FROM PLACES LESS EXPLORED
Katrine Levin Galleries is not a place, it is a destination to experience extraordinary contemporary art from places less explored. Our promise is art and beyond. In our pursuit of unique masters, we immerse ourselves into their cultures, intimate stories, and places that inspired and informed their art. Katrine commits long-term to a small selection of masters of diverse styles. Her focus is on art of enduring value that brings joy through originality, inspiration, and depth. We believe that such artists are rare. It is our privilege to discover and share with you their art and beyond, currently in Southwest China and Georgia.
KATRINE LEVIN Follow us:
Instagram: @KatrineLevinGalleries Twitter: @KatrineArtSpeak Facebook: @KatrineLevinGalleries
+44 (0) 7789 001378 katrine@katrinelevin.com www.katrinelevin.com
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MAMUKA DIDEBA
Mamuka Didebashvili was born in 1968 in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, where he lives and works. Dideba studied at the prestigious Nikoladze School of Art and the Tbilisi State Art Academy. In the interim between Art School and Academy, at a time when Georgia was still a republic of the former Soviet Union, he was drafted and served with the elite airborne Special Forces unit in Afghanistan, charged with rescue missions. His life is incredible not only in that he survived, but that he returned to art, creating works filled with light and warmth, and indestructible Georgian optimism. Dideba’s first solo exhibition in London was a critically acclaimed solo show with Katrine Levin Galleries in Mayfair in 2019. A ! ectionately dubbed as “Georgia’s Brueghel”, Dideba is recognised for his contribution to contemporary Georgian culture and is widely collected internationally.
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Cover image: Prometheus and Olympus paintings.
Graphic design: Martina Poiana
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from Katrine Levin Galleries
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Katrine Levin Galleries www.katrinelevin.com
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