Tamuna Sirbiladze

Sirbiladze was born in Tbilisi in Georgia. She studied art at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (1989–1994) in Georgia and later the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (1997–2003) and Slade School of Fine Art, London, 2003. She was the widow of fellow artist Franz West (1947–2012) and collaborated with West on a number of projects.[3][4]

Sirbiladze's background influenced her approach to painting: "Sirbiladze was exposed to art mostly through books‍—‌her home country had few museums. She knew early on that she wanted to be an artist, however, and cited the colors of the art she came across as the reason she ended up painting."[5] She told Forbes in a 2015 interview, "Searching for light and color is my main engagement".[6]

Sirbiladze made paintings known for their speed, and she sometimes incorporated text into her work.[7] Her characteristic style merged the figurative and the gestural. Her paintings have been described as "highly expressive" with splashes of color "forming abstracted figures and patterns." An Art in America review, a year before her death at age 45,[8] remarks on the "energetic content" of her work, saying "Sirbiladze's line is spare; abundant, creamy negative space supports the gentle diagonal flow of marks" anchored by unexpected forms.[9] Critic Alex Greenberger said, "Sirbiladze's paintings played with the division between figuration and abstraction, often melding the two in ambiguous images. Genitalia and bodies can be glanced in some, while in others, objects like jugs and fruits seem to materialize. Sirbiladze's paintings recall the work of Henri Matisse and the Impressionists in their light, expressive brushwork."[10]

Sirbiladze's work was introduced to a New York audience in 2015 through two solo exhibitions.[8] Sirbiladze had exhibited in Europe including at Almine Rech Gallery in Brussels, Jonathan Viner Gallery[11] in London and Secession[12] in Vienna. She wasn't known to New York audiences until she had "two shows of her abstract paintings, at Half Gallery[6] and James Fuentes[13] in 2015. For the former exhibition, "Sirbiladze turned Half Gallery's Upper East Side space into an installation—two walls were covered in a series of purple, dark-blue, and green smears, and paintings were hung on top."[10]

• Tamuna Sirbiladze,[14] ISBN 978-1-941701-80-5, Benedikt Ledebur, Lucas Zwirner (Editors), David Zwirner Books, New York 2017
• titles,[15] Onestar press, Paris 2014
• Der Ficker No. 2,[16] ISBN 3-85160-050-9, Benedikt Ledebur (Editor), Schlebrügge, Vienna 2006
• artists and poets,[17] ISBN 978-3-95763-253-1, Ugo Rondinone (Editor), Secession,[12] Vienna 2015
• NO MAN'S LAND: Women Artists from the Rubell Collection,[18] Rubell Family Collection, Miami, 2015

1997

• Bricks and Kicks – Weather, Vienna

1999

• The Sun Will Rise – Old Gallery, Tbilisi
• Graduate Group Show – Academy of Fine Art, Tbilisi
• Auction show – Tea House Gallery, Tbilisi
• New Paintings – Museum of Modern Art, Tbilisi

2000

• Juana e Juanita – Galleria Juana de Aizpuru, Madrid
• Aktuellestundentinnenarbeiten – curated by de:Kasper König, Semperdepot, Vienna
• Cultural Sidewalk - Gumpendorf2000 – curated by de:Heidulf Gerngross, Vienna

2001

• Point of View – Künstlerhauspassage, Vienna
• Plakatentwürfe Collaboration with Franz West – Gallery Gisela Capitain, Cologne

2002

• Parlez Vous Francais, English Dictionary – Mac, Marseille
• Apartement Franz West – Deichtorhallen, Hamburg

2003

• La-Bas – curated by Stephan Schmidt-Wullfen, Nexus kunsthalle Saalfelden, Saalfelden, Germany
• Franz West and Friends – , curated by Anthony Auerbach, Austrian Cultural Forum, London
• Moon Light – Collaboration with Franz West, Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna

2004

• Update – Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, curated by de:Hans Peter Wipplinger, Museum of Modern Art, Passau
• Le Opere I Giorni – Certosa Di San Lorenzo, Padula, Salerno
• Video Art Expo – curated by Luca Gurci, Bari, Italy

2005

• Camere/Chambers – Rum, Roma
• The Red Thread – Educational Alliance Gallery, New York
• Seconda – Biennale internationale d'arte di Ferrara, Ferrara

2006

• Der Ficker – Haus Wittgenstein – Elizabeth & Klaus Thoman Gallery, Vienna
• Esperimento Illuminismo – Albertina Museum, Vienna
• Der Ficker – Foundation de 11 Lijnen, Oudenburg, Belgium

2007

• Sequence 1 – Palazzo Grassi – Pinault, Venice
• Hamsterwheel – Arsenale – Venice[7]
• Inconcurrence – curated by Franz West, Galerie Collet Park,[19] Paris
• Der Ficker – Jonathan Viner Gallery,[11] London

2008

• Tamuna Sirbiladze: Paintings and Elements, Jonathan Viner Gallery,[11] London
• Grazy – Werkstatt, Graz, Austria
• Pretty Ugly, Gavin Brown's Enterprise –  New York City, NY

2009

• About Premises and Promises – Andreas Huber Gallery, Vienna
• Until The End Of The World – A.M.P., Athens
• The Read Thread – Dana Charkasi Gallery, Vienna

2010

• Laszive Lockungen – Galerie CUC Charim Unger Contemporary,[20] Berlin
• Franz West – Double Squint – Almine Rech Gallery,[21] Brussels
• Das Dinghafte in der Kunst – Nikola Vujasin Gallery, Vienna

2011

• Austria Davaj! – Creative Forces of Austria – curated by Kandeler Fritsch, MAK, and Irina Korobina, Schusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow

2012

• Naked Ground – Galerie Lisa Ruyter, Vienna
• Gaiety Is The Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet Union –  Saatchi Gallery,[22] London

2013

• 39greatjones – curated by Ugo Rondinone, Galerie Eva Presenhuber,[23] Zürich
• V-Collection – Galerie Charim,[24] Vienna

2014

• Tamuna Sirbiladze – Damona – Galerie Charim,[20] Vienna
• Siehe was dich sieht – 21er Haus, Belvedere, Vienna
• Rade Petrasevic & Tamuna Sirbiladze – V.ARE, Parkhouse Cineplex, Vienna

2015

• Artists and Poets[12] – curated by Ugo Rondinone, Vienna Secession
• Tamuna Sirbiladze – Take It Easy – Half Gallery, New York City, NY[6]
• Tamuna Sirbiladze: "Good Enough Is Never Good Enough – James Fuentes LLC, New York City, NY[9]
• No Man's Land – Rubell Family Collection,[25] Miami

2016

• Two Projects – Tamuna Sirbiladze – Almine Rech Gallery,[21] Brussels
• Tamuna Sirbiladze – Eve's apple – in memory – curated by Benedikt Ledebur, Galerie Charim,[24] Vienna

2017

• Tamuna Sirbiladze – Traces of Life,[26] 08. 04. - 27. 05., Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Löwenbräu Areal, Zürich
• AMAZING GIRLS / IT'S COMPLICATED,[27] 17. 05. - 18. 06., Kevin Space, Vienna
• Gnomons, groupshow with Lawrence Weiner, Walter Robinson, Julie Ryan, Jason Stopa, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, Lazar Lyutakov, Doug Johnston and Karin Fauchard. 08. 07., Non-Objectif Sud (NOS), Tulette, France

2018

• almost something like revenge, 13.02. - 7.04., curated by Benedikt Ledebur, Galerie Charim[28] Wien
• Known Unknowns,[29] 21.03. - 24.06., groupshow with Mona Osman, Stefanie Heinze, Saskia Olde Wolbers and Alida Cervantes, Saatchi Gallery,[22] London
• Elisabeth Penker, Laure Prouvost & Tamuna Sirbiladze: 64 hrs, 08.11. – 25.11., WIELS Project Room,[30] Brussels

2019

• Tamuna Sirbiladze, 21.02. – 5.04.,[31] curated by Rodolphe von Hofmannsthal, David Zwirner London, The Upper Room,[32] London
• Station Wien-West, 24.09. - 29.09, project statement at Prallel Vienna, with Andreas Donhauser, Andrew Mezvinsky, Anton Herzl, Benedikt Ledebur, Christian Eisenberger, Er _ich Joham Stefan, Franz Kapfer, Franz West, Fred Jelinek, Gilo Moroder, Heidulf Gerngross, Hans Riedel, Herbert Lachmayer, Heiri Häfliger, Julie Ryan, Leopold Kessler, Marcel Hauf, Michael Mautner, Natia Kalandaze, Philip Quehenberger, Reinhard Bernsteiner, Ronald Zechner, Rudolf Polanszky, Tamuna Sirbiladze

2020

• Denis Collet, Elisabeth Penker, Laure Prouvost, Tamuna Sirbiladze, 07.03. – 09.05.,[33] Galerie Hussenot, 5 bis rue de Haudriettes, Paris, curated by Eric Hussenot
• Summer - Karel Appel, John M Armleder, Jean-Baptiste Bernadet, Brian Calvin, Johan Creten, Gregor Hildebrandt, Allen Jones, Alexandre Lenoir, Taryn Simon, Tamuna Sirbiladze, Thu Van Tran, Tursic & Mille, 13.06. – 01.08.,[34] Almine Rech, 64 rue de Turenne, Paris

• Tamuna Sirbiladze on ArtFacts.net
• Further information from the Saatchi Gallery
• Tamuna Sirbiladze at Collet Park
• Tamuna Sirbiladze at Secession
• Tamuna Sirbiladze at Rubell Family Collection