Levan Lagidze: Bach Exercises

A major exhibition by the legendary Georgian painter, Levan Lagidze, who returns to London for the first time in 20 years.

Lagidze's works are collected by leading museums, including The Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art in Moscow; the National Picture Gallery in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia; and the Zimmerli Art Museum in the U.S.

Inside every inch of Lagidze's work is a separate universe. His art escapes definition except through a metaphor. He says that creating a composition is like “measuring eternity with careful steps”, where a blank canvas demands and promises complete immersion into the subject matter. In this state, concepts such as distance and time dissolve into an all encompassing here and now.

The show's title, Bach Exercises, reflects the paintings’ cadence, where the myriad of tiny universes built up along a grid intermingle in a symphony of rich chromatic notes, creating universal images and narrations - such as landscapes and urbanisation - through abstraction.