A foray into the artistic terrain of Rusudan Khizanishvili
“Double Exposure”, KORNFELD Galerie Berlin 2026
In texts about you and your work, mythology is often mentioned. Does this refer to classical Western mythology as we know it from the Greeks, for example, or is it more about myths rooted in your Georgian cultural background?
Rusudan Khizanishvili: My relationship with mythology is not limited to one specific tradition. Of course, classical mythology: Greek, Roman, and ancient Mediterranean narratives has had a profound influence on Western visual culture, and I am interested in these universal archetypes: transformation, sacrifice, birth, death, desire, conflict between human and divine forces. I am also drawn to figures like Prometheus or to the image of the chained body, because they speak so clearly about endurance and punishment across cultures.
However, my understanding of myth is much closer to the idea of myth as a living structure of memory. I come from Georgia, a country with a very rich cultural history, where myths, legends, rituals, and collective memories continue to exist not only as stories from the past, but as active elements shaping identity and perception. The story of Amirani, for example, or the recurring presence of the mountain, the vine, and the bird in Georgian visual culture, feels very close to the emotional world of my paintings.
When I was younger, I did try to find myself in different tribes and communities around me, but I later understood that this search was also shaped by a colonial identity violently imposed on us by Russian imperial rule. We are still struggling against that inheritance, which is why I do not see identity as something that needs to be searched for again. It is already there, carried in memory, language, and history.
For me, mythology is not an illustration of folklore. I do not attempt to recreate ancient narratives literally. I am interested in the moment when myth survives after belief, when it becomes a psychological, emotional, and cultural architecture.
My figures are not characters from specific legends, they are vessels carrying different layers of memory, trauma, transformation, and human experience.
The Georgian cultural landscape, with its mixture of ancient traditions, Christianity, Eastern influences, and complex historical experiences, naturally enters my work. I see myth as a language that allows us to speak about things that cannot always be expressed through rational or historical narratives.
Why do people still need myths in the digital age?
The digital age has created enormous amounts of information, but information is not the same as meaning. We are surrounded by images, data, and constant communication, yet many people experience fragmentation and a loss of connection with deeper structures of existence.
Myth provides another kind of knowledge. It does not explain the world scientifically, instead, it helps us understand our emotional and psychological relationship with the world. Myths speak about fear, love, death, transformation, belonging, and the eternal human search for meaning.
Even today, we continue to create myths. We create personal myths about ourselves, about our origins, our identities, and our futures. The difference is that contemporary myths are often hidden inside popular culture, politics, technology, and social narratives.
For me, painting becomes a place where these invisible structures can become visible again. Myth allows us to look beyond the surface of everyday reality and recognize the symbolic forces that shape our lives.
Does the visual retelling of myths represent a counter-model to the artistic use of political ideologies?
I believe art has always existed in dialogue with power structures. Throughout history, images have been used by political and religious systems to create narratives, control perception, and establish collective identities.
But myth works differently. Political ideology often tries to create one fixed interpretation of reality, while myth remains open, ambiguous, and multilayered. Myth does not provide simple answers; it creates a space for questions.
In this sense, myth can become a form of resistance. Not necessarily direct political resistance, but resistance against simplification, manipulation, and the reduction of human experience to a single narrative.
Painting allows me to protect complexity. The human being is never only a social category, a political identity, or a historical fact. Each person contains contradictions, memories, dreams, fears, and invisible worlds.
My work tries to restore this complexity and return the human figure to a place of mystery and dignity.
Are artists’ studios thus a kind of seedbed for resistance against political paternalism and repression?
The studio is a very unique space because it is a place where independent thought can exist. It is a space outside immediate social pressure, where an artist can question accepted realities and imagine alternative possibilities.
For me personally, the studio is more than just a workplace. It is a shrine — a sacred space where I perform my own rituals of creation. It is the place where I reconnect with myself, with memory, with intuition, and with the deeper layers of existence that are often hidden in everyday life.
Painting is a ritual through which I can survive. It is not simply a profession or a method of producing images; it is a way of maintaining inner balance, transforming experiences, and giving form to things that cannot always be expressed through words.
Historically, artists’ studios have often been places where new ideas were born, not only artistic ideas, but philosophical and social ones. Creation itself requires freedom because imagination cannot function under complete control.
However, I do not think resistance always needs to be expressed through direct political statements. Sometimes the most powerful form of resistance is simply preserving individuality, sensitivity, and the ability to see differently.
For me, painting is an act of preserving human complexity in a world that often tries to simplify people into categories. To create an image that contains ambiguity and emotional depth is already a way of resisting a culture of reduction.
The studio as a shrine allows me to protect this inner territory, a space where transformation is possible, where vulnerability becomes strength, and where painting becomes both a form of resistance and a form of survival.
Are there unchanging constants in what it means to be human, and if so, in what ways might these be reflected in your paintings?
I believe there are certain fundamental experiences that remain constant throughout human history: birth, death, love, loneliness, fear, desire, memory, and the need to understand our own existence.
Technology changes, societies change, political systems change, but these internal landscapes remain remarkably similar.
The human body is central in my work because the body carries all these layers. It is both physical and symbolic. It remembers experiences, history, trauma, transformation, and time. My figures are not portraits in the traditional sense. They are states of being. They represent moments of transition , between past and future, vulnerability and strength, individuality and collective memory.
Through the body, I explore what remains eternal within us.
How do you imagine the ideal visitor to your exhibitions?
I do not imagine an ideal visitor in terms of education, background, or knowledge of art history. The most important thing is openness.
I would like the viewer to enter the exhibition not only intellectually, but emotionally and intuitively. My paintings are built through layers of symbols, references, and visual relationships, but they do not require a single correct interpretation.
The ideal viewer is someone who allows the work to create an internal dialogue. Someone who can spend time with an image and discover something personal within it.
A painting is completed not only by the artist, but by the presence of the viewer.
Aside from your own presentations, when was the last time you visited an exhibition yourself, and which one was it?
I always try to remain a viewer as well as an artist. Visiting exhibitions is an essential part of my own practice because it allows me to step outside my personal visual language and encounter other ways of thinking.
Recently, I have visited exhibitions in Berlin, a city that has always been an important place for contemporary art. I have also seen exhibitions of Brancusi and Marina Abramović, as well as many gallery shows, and all of them were important to me. What interests me most is not only individual works, but the dialogue between artists, institutions, history, and the city itself. Berlin has a unique atmosphere because it carries many layers of memory , destruction, reconstruction, political division, and transformation. Walking along Bernauer Straße or seeing the traces of the Wall still embedded in the city makes that history feel very present. This relationship between history and the present is something I find deeply inspiring.
When you leave Berlin, with which ideas or at least impressions do you return to your familiar world?
Berlin always leaves me with the feeling of a city in constant transformation. It is a place where different histories coexist, sometimes peacefully and sometimes in tension.
Berlin is also, for me, one of the most caring and calm places, if a city can be human. I am always happy to be in this city. Somehow it reminds me of Tbilisi, by the energy, by the eclectic spirit.
What I take with me is not only what I see in exhibitions, but the atmosphere of openness and experimentation. Berlin reminds me that art needs spaces where uncertainty and searching are possible.
I return with renewed energy for my own studio practice. Every journey changes the way we look at familiar things. After experiencing another environment, we return to our own world with a different vision.
I’ve read that parts of your work have been associated with “Magical Realism.” Would you accept this classification?
I understand why people connect my work with Magical Realism because there is often a relationship between the everyday and the mysterious in my paintings.
However, I would not define my work only through this term. Magical Realism has a specific historical and literary context, and my approach comes from a broader interest in myth, symbolism, psychology, and the invisible dimensions of human existence.
For me, the strange or magical elements are not added to reality from outside. They already exist within reality. Human consciousness itself is a mysterious territory.
I am interested in the moment when ordinary perception transforms and reveals another layer of existence.
Your current exhibition at KORNFELD Galerie in Berlin is titled “Double Exposure.” Could you explain what this title means in relation to your painting?
“Double Exposure” refers to the coexistence of multiple realities within one image.
The title comes from the photographic technique where two different images are exposed onto the same surface, creating a new and unexpected visual reality. I see my paintings in a similar way: they contain several layers of time, memory, identity, and perception.
Sometimes this feels like a face appearing over a landscape, or a body carrying the shadow of another body, as if one image cannot fully exist without the other.
The figures exist between different states , between past and present, human and symbolic, personal and collective. They carry traces of what has been lived and what is imagined.
For me, painting is not simply representing reality, it is creating a space where different realities can overlap.
“Double Exposure” is also connected to my understanding of identity. I am actually against the cliché in art that treats identity as something flat or decorative, or as a simple search for roots. Identity is already found; when I was younger, of course, I tried to rediscover myself in different tribes around me, but I came to understand that this search was also shaped by a colonial identity violently imposed on us by the Russian imperial system, and we are still struggling against that inheritance. That means we already have our identity, we do not need to search for it again, we, Georgians are quite unique and have enough to say about ourselves.
What interests me are the much more detailed and deeper layers beneath it , the space between consciousness and the unconscious, between memory and dream, between the visible and the hidden. In that sense, I feel close to the explorations of Carl Gustav Jung in Liber Novus, or to the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft and Carlos Castaneda, where reality is never only literal, but full of thresholds, symbols, and inner landscapes.
Through painting, I try to reveal these invisible layers and create a space where they can become visible.
Interview: Martina Pfeiffer
Exhibition:
Rusudan Khizanishvili – Double Exposure
Curated by Asja Wolf
3 Jul – 22 Aug 2026
KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Fasanenstr. 26, 10719 Berlin
RUSUDAN KHIZANISHVILI
1979 Born in Tbilisi, Georgia
Lives and works in Tbilisi, Georgia
Education
1994-1998 J. Nikoladze College of Art, BFA 1998-2003 Tbilisi State Academy of Art, BFA 2003-2005 Tbilisi State Academy of Art, MFA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2026 Double Exposure, Rusudan Khizanishvili, KORNFELD Galerie, Berlin, Germany Sacrificial Rites, Rusudan Khizanishvili and Chucho Reyes, CAM Galería, Mexico City, Mexico
2025 Not by Myself in the Dining Room, Seojung Art Gallery, Busan, South Korea
2024 Mother Ship, Duo show together with Uta Bekaia, Window Project, Tbilisi, Georgia - The Great Disappearing Act, Rusudan Khizanishvili and Agathe Brahami Ferron, Galerie LJ, Paris, France
2023 The Velvet Armor, Seojung Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2022 Beauty and the Beast, KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2021 Of Goddesses and Women, Window Project, Tbilisi, Georgia - Endless Worlds, Duo Show with Brian Harte, Annarumma Gallery, Napoli, Italy
2020 Rooms & Beings, curated by Nina Mdivani, 68projects by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Germany, New York Meets Tbilisi: Defining Otherness, Assembly Room, New York, NY, USA
2019 Book Of Imaginary Beings, Museum of Fine Art, Nalchik, Russia
2018 Conversion Device, Literature Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia Conversion Device, Mark Rothko's Art Center, Daugavapils, Latvia Rusudan Khizanishvili, Oni Local Museum, Oni, Georgia
2017 Imaginary World, Breed Art Studios, Amsterdam, Netherlands Rusudan Khizanishvili, Kunsthaus Summerau, Neukirch, Germany Fabelwelten, Galerie Am Roten Hof, Vienna, Austria
2016 Rusudan Khizanishvili, Mauregard Gallery, Perche, France Rusudan Khizanishvili, Galerie Am Roten Hof, Vienna, Austria
2013 Lost Secrets, Gallery Foresight 32, Amman, Jordan
2008 Rusudan Khizanishvili, Kopala Art Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 Winter Show, Galerie LJ, Paris, France
2025 Trust Issues, Three artist show curated by Nina Chkareuli, KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2024 Hit me with your best shot, represented by Nina Mdivani, Pen + Brush, New York, USA - Disobedient Bodies, curated by Rolando J.Carmona, Baro Galeria, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Origins, RHODES Contemporary Art Gallery, London, UK Scacco matto, Curated by Giuliana Benussi, Mimmo Scognamiglio, Artecontemporanea, Milan Italy
2023 Emotional Rescue, Annarumma Gallery, Napoly, Italy - Dear Dream, Dear Dread, HAGD Contemporary, Aalborg, Denmark Medea, curated by Demetrio Paparoni, Antico Mercato Ortigia, Siracusa, Italy
2022 Blick zurück nach vorn, KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Berlin, Germany - Im Namen der Hose, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2021 WÜNDER WOMXN: THE FEMALE FIGURATIVE, Beers London, London, UK - Group exhibition, Thisted Museum Of Modern and Contemporary Art, Thisted, Denmark
2020 Group exhibition, curated by Domenico De Chirico Window Project Tbilisi, Georgia -Group exhibition, curated by Julien Deiss, Düsseldorf, Germany
2020 In Search Of The Miraculous, MoMA, Tbilisi, Georgia Ab- und Zusagen, 68projects, Berlin, Germany
2019 Re-Production Show, Contemporary Art Space (CAS), Batumi, Georgia Extension, Triumph Gallery, Moscow, Russia - Group show, Bait Al Zubair Museum, Muscat, Oman Divergent Motion, Delphian Gallery, London, UK, In Situ/In Vivo, Tbilisi State Silk Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia 12 Jahre, Galerie Am Roten Hof, Vienna, Austria, Group show, Copper Leg Art Residency, Vaskjala, Estonia Image and Likeness, MOMA, Tbilisi, Georgia
2018 Drei Künstlerinnen aus dem Land des Goldenen Flieses, Galerie Halle, Vienna, Austria - Rusudan Khizanishvili and KC Ortiz, New Image Art Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA, King Is Female, Villa Wessel, Iserlohn, Germany Group show, Wilma W. Daniels, Wilmington, NC, USA
2017 Summer, Allouche Gallery, New York, USA - Group show,19 Karen Contemporary Space, Gold Coast, Australia Group show, Arundel Contemporary, Arundel, UK
2016 Paperworks, Upstream Gallery, New York, USA - Group show, Mezzanine Gallery, Wilmington, NC, USA Residency show, CAB Gallery, Amman, Jordan
2015 Artist’s Book: Knight in Panther’s Skin, Georgian National Museum of History, Tbilisi, Georgia - The Crawling Border, Concept Creator, Group presentation, Georgian National Pavilion at the 56th Venice Art Biennale, Venice, Italy
2014 Group show, Wyndham Residency Show, Doha, Qatar Art Festival ZhasStar, Almaty, Kazakhstan
2014 Group show, Irok Gallery, Horst-Panningen, Netherlands
2013 Circle Of Life – Black And White, Gallery Foresight 32, Amman, Jordan 2011 Hello, Caucasus Karvasla Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia - The Lost Secrets, Art Mix Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Art Fairs
2024 Asia Now, represented by Galerie LJ, Paris FrancePositions Art Fair, represented by Seojung Art Gallery, Berlin, Germany KIAF, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Seoul, South Korea ZONAMACO, represented by Window Project, Mexico City, Mexico
Art OnO Fair, represented by Seojung Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea Art Busan Fair, represented by Seojung Art Gallery, Busan, South Korea
Arte Fiera Bologna, represented by Galeria Mimmo Scognamiglio, Bologna, Italy Art Paris, represented by Galeria Mimmo Scognamiglio, Paris, France
2023 DIAF, represented by Seojung Art Gallery, Daegu, South Korea
Korean Galleries Art Fair, represented by Seojung Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea Art Busan Fair, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Busan, South Korea KIAF, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Seoul, South Korea
KIAF, represented by Seojung Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2022 KIAF, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Seoul, South Korea
Expo Chicago, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Chicago, IL, USA Art Busan Fair, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Busan, South Korea Untitled Art, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Miami, FL, USA Art021, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Shanghai, China
2022 Tbilisi Art Fair, represented by Window Project, Tbilisi, Georgia
2021 KIAF, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Seoul, South Korea ArtVerona, represented by Annarumma Gallery, Verona, Italy Art021, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Shanghai, China KIAF, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Seoul, South Korea
Untitled Art, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Miami, FL, USA Expo Chicago, represented by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin, Chicago, IL, USA
Residencies
2024 CCA Andratx Artist-in-Residency Program, Mallorca, Spain 2023 Bedstuy Art Residency, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2022 Istanbul Artist Residency, curator Beral Madra
2021 Soria Art Residency, Almarza, Castillia y Leon, Spain
2018 No Boundaries, Bald Head Island Art Colony, North Carolina, USA
2016 Sianoja International Art Symposium, Noja, Spain CAB Gallery Residency, Amman, Jordan
2015 No Boundaries, Bald Head Island Art Colony, North Carolina, USA
2013 Mark Rothko Residency, Daugavpils, Latvia International Art Symposium, Eger, Hungary
2012 International Art Symposium, Charity Foundation DIAS, Dubai, UAE Luxor Art Symposium, Luxor, Egypt
Publications
2022 Book / Catalogue with text by Christoph Tannert, Suzan Kizilirmak, etc. published by Ludvig Rage
2018 King Is Female: Three Artists from Georgia, written by Nina Mdivani, foreword by Alfred Kornfeld, Wienand Verlag, Berlin, Germany
Book launch presented at Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt, Germany
2015 Artist’s Book: The Knight In Panther’s Skin, Georgian National Museum of History, Tbilisi, Georgia
Public Works
2019 Sphinx mural series, Khedi Hotel, Tbilisi, Georgia
Collections
Awards
Mark Rothko Art Center, Latvia Collezione Taurisano, Naples, Italy Ettore Rossetta Collection, Italy Breus Foundation, Moscow, Russia
Stefan Simchowitz Collection, LA, CA, USA
Georgian National Museum of History, Tbilisi, Georgia Oni Local Museum, Oni, Georgia
Kvareli Foundation, Kvareli, Georgia Sam Keller, Basel, Switzerland
Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Australia
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, (MMCA), Korea Korean Embassy Art collection, Berlin, Germany
2016 Main Prize at Związek Polskich Artystów Plastyków, Gliwice Art Community, Gliwice, Poland