We are very pleased to present the first exhibition of the Swiss-Georgian artist Koka Ramishvili (*1956 in Tbilisi, Georgia, lives in Geneva since 2000) in our gallery. Koka Ramishvili is one of the most important artists from Georgia.

For his show in Zurich, Koka Ramishvili focuses on the concept of landscape representation: landscape as installation and landscape as painting. He approaches the rendering of landscape not only from a position of gravity, but also from a spherical position. This approach is evident in the first room of the exhibition, where one smaller and six larger works on paper hang under the overarching title Horizon. Koka Ramishvili refers to this sequence of images as a melody of landscape. The only work that features a horizon line is the smaller sheet. This works shows a depiction of an ancient Japanese drinking vessel, which contains in a metaphorical way the essence of landscape representation in this series of works on paper.

The cardboard models on an elevated wooden shelf are three-dimensional realizations by Koka Ramishvili of buildings in paintings by Giorgio de Chirico. Koka Ramishvili sees these temple-like structures as transformations of landscape, as they can be imagined in de Chirico's characteristic deserted cityscapes. According to Koka Ramishvili, they are models to capture the light, therefore giving them the name light engines. They were created by him to be photographed with a Leica M Monochrome (type 246) camera. This device does not capture the color spectra RGB, but countless variations and gradations of gray. The image Orpheus’ Harp provides a conceptual bridge to the group of Lost Landscape images and the Horizon series. The non-representational landscape becomes the strings of Orpheus' harp.