Back to All Events

Unattended Act // Nina Kintsurashvili


This exhibition is presented digitally in a virtual model of our gallery space created by artist and game designer Austin Caskie.

Download the interactive gallery here. (Mac/PC)

Unattanded Act features five recent paintings, the majority of them created during the period of isolation due to the Covid-19 crisis. During this period of time I started thinking about the external influences on the individual’s identity as well as on the collective subconscious. Thus, I started painting this series that I view as a deconstructed autobiography, where the memories are not filtered. Instead, they take the form similar to the visual stream of consciousness. Every painting starts with a number of drawings, which for me is the most immediate medium to materialize the flow of consciousness. After the drawings are finished, I analyze them to find the patterns that interest me the most, which later are transferred onto the canvas. I often incorporate color pencils and markers while painting on canvas which transforms these pieces into half-drawing and half-paintings.  The symbolism in paintings are usually influenced by The Easter Orthodox Icons and frescos that I grew up with, familiar architecture, the material culture I’ve interacted with and the early internet.” - Nina Kintsurashvili

Watch a video interview with Nina and Austin produced by Little Village and the IC Downtown District!

Gallery Walk-Through (no download required)

About the Artist

Born in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia in 1992, Nina Kintsurashvili is an interdisciplinary artist who earned her BFA in painting from The Tbilisi State Academy of Arts. After receiving Fulbright award, she relocated to US and is currently based in Iowa City where she’s pursuing her MFA at The University of Iowa as well as teaching a course Intermedia: Contemporary Art Practices.

Nina was born in the family of Orthodox Iconographer father, working on religious Icons and frescoes right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. She started creating and exhibiting her work at an early age. After receiving traditional, academic training in painting, she became interested in wide range of media such as sound, video, performance and sculpture. Her work is an exploration of deconstructed memories, censorship, gender, inclusion/exclusion, Soviet past and the experience of growing up around Orthodox Christian mysticism. By replacing the familiar dogmatic imagery from Georgian religious icons with inventive iconography and symbolism, Nina creates personal subjective mythology through repetition of these symbols.

Nina has taken part in many group exhibitions as well as number of her solo shows. Among others, her work has been exhibited in Tate Modern as part of Future Late show curated by Tate Collective, Palazzo Coppini in Florence and Ortega Y Gasset Projects in New York City. Her work can be found in private collections in South Korea, USA, Georgia, New York and Sweden.

Later Event: April 28
Witness Wall