Russian Museum (pdf)

purchase paintings (pdf, password protected)

The purchase document contains the images of the available artworks with their prices. It is password protected. To obtain the password please contact us.

Igor Tcholaria was born in 1959 in the small town of Ochamchiri on the coast of the Black Sea in Abkhazia, Georgia. During his school days, his teachers noticed his exceptional talent and suggested that he apply to the prestigious Art College of Sukhumi. Tcholaria spent the next three years there studying under the guidance of artist Givi Guergaya who introduced Tcholaria to the artists such as Modigliani and Picasso. After completing his studies at the College, Tcholaria moved to Leningrad to study at the University of Arts named after Vera Mukhina. He spent long periods of time at the Hermitage Museum copying works by distinguished old masters. He found it more enlightening to study the manner of painting of da Vinci, and the techniques of Raphael, than to attend lectures. Eventually Tcholaria and his professors came to uncompromising disagreements and he was asked to leave.

Tcholaria became a free artist, one of the first in the Soviet Union who earned a living by painting portraits in the street. During Gorbachev’s Perestroika, Tcholaria was noticed by the owner of Cenacolo Gallery in Piacenza, Italy. Intrigued by Tcholaria’s talent, the Italian art dealer offered to collaborate with him, the start of an artistic venture abroad. In Italy he had his first solo exhibition, soon followed by shows in Greece, Belgium and Netherlands, along with auctions and art fairs. Among other commissions, he was asked to paint two four-meter long murals for famous ocean liner, the Queen Mary II. In 2009 he won the gold medal for his aerographics on the latest Volvo C70, exhibited at the Millionaire’s Fair in Moscow.

Though chaotic in appearance, the works are precisely arranged. Nothing is there by accident; every colour is given feeling with specific texture and by its proximity to other colours. The push and pull of the colours creates a soothing optical illusion- we drift in and back out of these imaginariums, stirred awake by more than a nod to those old masters who first inspired him. Tcholaria’s paintings can be found in many well-known collections around the world, including names such as Galliano and Pavarotti, as well as many international art collectors. His paintings decorate the entrance hall of the May Fair Hotel in London.

E-mail: info@hayhillgallery.com