Комоrеbi. Georgy And Irina Totibadze, Featuring Alexander Smirnov

About the exhibition

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art and Totibadze Gallery are pleased to present Komorebi, the first joint exhibition of famous Moscow painters, married couple Irina and Georgy Totibadze. The project, inspired by a sense of fleeting and changing beauty, combines the works of the two artists and Alexander Smirnov’s photographic series, to form a multi-voiced space where painting and documentary evidence are mutually reinforcing.

Irina and Georgy met while studying at the Moscow Art School, then both graduated from the Tbilisi Academy of Arts. They continue the traditions of Russian and Georgian schools of figurative painting: for Irina the main subjects are still life and portraits, loved ones and familiar things, for Georgy those are landscape and the world around him represented in different scales.

The Komorebi project is based on paintings from the last ten years. Many were painted during the pandemic lockdown, when the studio became a place where the authors could still feel free. About one hundred works are arranged in a sequence of themes and motifs in six rooms: Irina chronicles her inner circle, her still lifes reflect warm encounters and journeys. Georgy’s landscapes play with perception, showing the unity of nature – both in the global landscape and in small details. The exposition present opposites harmoniously: water and land, light and dark, sweet and unsweet - these are not oppositions, but a whole that does not need to be separated. Especially if you are aware of the komorebi....

The title of the exhibition, Komorebi, is a Japanese word for the moment when the sun’s rays pass through the crowns of trees, creating an alternating stream of light. This image serves as a metaphor for Totibadzes artistic method: focusing on the evanescent, on moments that bring together different things and give birth to a harmonious whole.

The paintings are accompanied by documentaries of photographer Alexander Smirnov, a family friend. For several years he filmed the artists at work, with the condition that they should not notice him. In the photo books specifically created for the exhibition, viewers will find the atmosphere of the studio, the creative process and everything that becomes the context of Totibadzes paintings. The exhibition will also include a video interview with George and Irina Totibadze in the studio, recorded by the curators of the project.

The public programme will include curatorial tours, meetings with artists, and master classes.

Curators

Victoria Vasilyeva, Elena Milanovskaya

About the artists

Georgy Totibadze was born in Tbilisi. He studied at the Moscow Art School and at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts (1991). Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts (Department of Painting, since 2021). His works are in the State Museum of Oriental Art, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and in private collections.

Irina Totibadze was born in Moscow. Graduated from the Moscow Art School (1986) and the Tbilisi Academy of Arts (1991). Member of the Moscow Union of Artists since 2005. Participant of numerous exhibitions. Irina Totibadze’s works are in private collections both in Russia and abroad. Alexander Smirnov was born in the village of Krasnokutskoe (Kazakhstan). He is a doctor by training and ran a clinical department of neuroses. For almost 30 years he worked as a marketing and advertising specialist for different business sectors, including the publishing business. He devoted three years to the development of the charity fund Light, which helps children with cancer.

Alexander Smirnov has been photographing for over 50 years, but has never made a career out of it.

Co-organizer