Where the beauty gets created: in the Tbilisi studio of Anton Totibadze and Alexandra Pasternak
We visited the studio of Anton Totibadze and Alexandra Pasternak located at their family home. During our conversation with the artists, we learned about the history of the house and had the opportunity to meet their grandpa. We also discovered the significance of the cultural tradition of feasts to them.
TELL US ABOUT THIS HOUSE. WHO LIVES HERE?
Anton: This house has a rich history, it was built by my great grandfather Apollon Kutateladze, who was a founder and president of the Art academy during the Soviet era.
Sasha: We are surrounded by a community of artists and their descendants. There was a sculpture workshop close by, and everyone knew each other, often visiting each other's houses for gatherings and inspirations.
SO THIS HOUSE WAS INHERITED FROM ONE GENERATION TO ANOTHER AND SO ON?
Anton: Starting from our great grandfather Apollon to his son Karaman, also an artist, to our grandfather (he’s in the photo with us), who is the younger brother of our grandmother Nana, our dad’s mother. She moved from Tbilisi to Moscow in the 70s and after that spent the last 30 years living in Paris.
HOW OLD IS THIS HOUSE?
Sasha: The house was built in 1947, it was originally a part of the artist union and some spaces were used as studios. At the time it was a single-story building, but over time more floors were added. Now it's situated in the central district of Vake, but in the past, it was located in an industrial area on the outskirts of the city.
LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR FAMILIES. WHO ARE YOUR PARENTS?
Anton: Sasha's dad is an architect who specializes in preserving cultural heritage, while my dad is an artist. My mom is a full-time mother and we have a big family, six kids in total. I am the eldest. My younger sister Musya is a singer, another sister is currently studying at the institute and has recently expressed an interest in becoming an oenologist. Tamara is an artist like my dad and my two brothers David and George are still figuring out what they want to do in the future.
DO YOU CONSULT WITH YOUR PARENTS ON YOUR ART?
Anton: My parents have gradually given me less advice as I have grown as an artist. My mom, who is a mathematician, initially had difficulty understanding why I was always drawing unstable ellipses in the shape of a rugby ball. However, as my ellipses improved, my mom began to only compliment my paintings and my dad does the same.
Sasha: My dad is a bit more critical. He studied at the Moscow Architectural Institute and has an art background, so he holds me to a high standard. He is often surprised by my slow working pace. We had agreed that when I returned from Georgia, I would have 60 new canvases of 60 to 80 cm. However, I'm afraid it could take me several years to create that many paintings because of my slow working pace. Recently, we had a conversation over the phone, he asked me how many paintings I had created so far, and I told him "just one", and he exclaimed "What can I do to make you work faster?!"
HOW DID YOUR CAREERS START AND HOW DID THEY INTERSECT?
Anton: My career as an artist began 11 years ago when I started studying drawing. Prior to that, I was studying graphic design and while we were taught to think and create, drawing and painting were not a major focus. My dad always told me that while design is important, if a person can't draw, it's quickly noticed by professionals and that's why it's crucial to learn how to draw.
In November 2010, I began studying drawing and my teacher allowed me to create my own still life. I used to draw Coca Cola bottles, Pringles cans, cigarettes, and other everyday objects. The potato chips had a very peculiar shape, by the way. I created a funny still life with a Marlboro pack, a skull, Pringles, and a decanter of vodka.
After that, I started posting my drawings on Facebook, receiving 2 or 3 likes, and thought "Wow, what a success!". Later on, I started selling my drawings, and it was then that I realized that I had enough money to ask Sasha out on a date.
SO YOU TWO ALREADY KNEW EACH OTHER BACK THEN?
Anton: Two years before that, yes, we already met. I was 16 and Sasha was 18, and when I turned 18 I started earning some money and thought that now I could afford some cinema and restaurants!
Sasha: That’s how we roll!
SASHA, HOW DID IT ALL START FOR YOU?
Sasha: I was exposed to the art world from a young age, visiting places like the Pushkin Museum. I began studying at the Moscow Academic Art College at the age of 13. I took courses for 2 years, then studied for 4 more years, and then for another 6 years at the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts in the scenography faculty. However, I realised during my studies that working in theatre wasn't for me, as there are too many people involved in creating a single play. To work in theatre, I would need to find a great director and a theatre, which hasn't happened yet but I haven't given up hope! After meeting Anton, we started renting a studio in Moscow at Narkomfin three years later.
Anton: And we got married after 10 years!
Sasha: Yes, but let's talk about that later! We worked in that studio for 3 years until they began restoring the building and we moved into a simple 3-room apartment. Each of us had our own studio room and a shared living room. In the past two years since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, we've been visiting Georgia frequently.
Anton: We initially planned to stay for only 3 months but ended up staying for half a year.
Sasha: And in the past year, we moved here for half a year, but now we're not sure how long we'll stay here.
THAT MEANS YOU DON’T HAVE A STUDIO OR AN APARTMENT IN MOSCOW NOW?
Sasha: No, we moved all our pieces to the relatives’ houses. Anton left earlier, and I stayed for a while, having to sort the stuff in the apartment.
HOW DO YOU FEEL WORKING IN A PAIR? DO YOU CRITICISE EACH OTHER OR SUGGEST SOME THINGS?
Sasha: Occasionally, we share constructive criticism with each other, but not often. It's too risky!
Anton: Yeah, it's not like there are any universal critics!
Sasha: We've been working together for almost 8 years now and we've come to the realisation that it's better not to be too harsh with each other when giving feedback. Now that we're located very close to each other in the studio, it's a new experience for us. In the past, we usually had separate rooms.
AND HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT EXPERIENCE OF WORKING VERY CLOSE TO EACH OTHER?
Sasha: It's okay, not bad.
Anton: At Narkomfin, we were in a similar-sized space, just on different levels. Sasha's space was upstairs and mine was downstairs.
Sasha: There are more people living in this house as well, so it feels more open.
Anton: Yeah, our relatives live here too. This house was empty recently, since our grandfather left during the pandemic. That's why we had to clean everything up in April, as it was full of spider webs and our grandfather's paintings. Now we've moved all of that to our apartment in the Vera district.
Sasha: We didn't have this studio when we first moved in, and we were not allowed to work in the apartment. We didn't even have any space to work in. We've been working in this studio since April. It didn't have heating inside, but we don't need it in the summer. However, we still want to rent our own place later on, because we feel like our grandfather wants to work in this space too. He says it's okay and works outside the city in his Garicula art residency, but still...
DO YOU COLLABORATE WITH SOME RUSSIAN GALLERIES NOW?
Anton: Occasionally, I receive messages from online media and galleries like OilyOil and Askeri, but we haven't had any collaborations with Moscow galleries yet. My paintings are currently selling in Moscow, after a long pause.
Sasha: I also receive inquiries about my artworks for sale, but we haven't collaborated with any Moscow galleries yet.
Anton: However, we have worked with a Russian gallery called Tonka in Paris and had an exhibition there last year.
CAN YOU TELL DIFFERENCES IN COLLABORATIONS WITH GALLERIES FROM RUSSIA, FRANCE AND GEORGIA?
Sasha: Even in Paris the people who buy our artworks are Russian. And when we were holding an exhibition, many of them were buying pieces and moving them to Moscow.
Anton: Most of the sales are going through Instagram.
DO YOU GET TO COLLABORATE WITH THE LOCAL GALLERIES HERE IN TBILISI?
Anton: We haven’t had such an experience yet, but I want to prepare a series of artworks to have something to show and we plan to invite some curators from one famous gallery. Our friend Alexey Dubinskiy is selling at that gallery.
DO YOU LEARN THE GEORGIAN LANGUAGE?
Sasha: Yes, I started learning the language in April. Before that, I had some basic knowledge and would listen in on Anton's lessons when he was learning it.
YOU HAVE LOTS OF PAINTINGS DEDICATED TO THE THEME OF FOOD, IT SEEMS LIKE YOU LOVE THE FEAST CULTURE. CAN YOU TELL ABOUT THIS TRADITION?
Anton: We have a deep appreciation for feast culture and we try to have as many feasts as possible, like Old Believers, you know?
Sasha: Our entire family loves to cook and eat, sometimes even too much!
Anton: If you were to visit us on a cold day, we could make some kebab in the fireplace. We could also do it in the yard, I've even made a space for a barbecue. However, it's currently too hot outside.
WOW! AND HOW LONG DO YOU USUALLY HOST THESE FEASTS?
Sasha: Now we are on a pause with that!
Anton: Yeah, pauses happen.
Sasha: It’s just we have to work too! But when we just arrived in Tbilisi, we were having the feasts all the time.
Anton: We were stressing and boozing at the same time!
YOU SAY, FEASTS HELPED TO DEAL WITH STRESS AFTER ARRIVING IN TBILISI?
Sasha: I think so, maybe. We were sitting and having lots of infinite discussions.
Anton: It happened to be some kind of a festival of famous faces in March. We had Musya and Danya Kozlovskiy at our place, Yana Troyanova, Gudkov and all my sisters. Recently, we found out that Anton Chernyak, a member of the Russian rap band Krovostok, has been living nearby for more than a month.
Sasha: And he studied in Moscow Academic Art Institute with Anton's father!
Anton: Yeah, it's cool! But it's also surreal. You know the person, even admire them for some reason, and you should be excited to see them in person, but you're too exhausted, and yesterday's celebrities are replaced by today's celebrities, and you don't feel like you have enough hospitality for all of them.
SASHA, YOU HAVE A LOT OF GREEN COLOUR IN YOUR PAINTINGS NOW. DOES IT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH YOU MOVING TO GEORGIA? DO YOU FEEL MORE INSPIRED IN GEORGIA THAN IN RUSSIA?
Sasha: Actually, I find inspiration in my surroundings. When we were living in Moscow and moving to different apartments, the change in surroundings helped a lot. Everything around me, from the view from the window, was inspiring. Now, I feel the same way here in Georgia. Since it's summer, there's a lot of greenery around which I find inspiring. I also love the winter in Moscow. March in Tbilisi was also very beautiful, especially when it snowed unexpectedly.
AND WHAT ABOUT YOU, ANTON? DO YOU FEEL MORE INSPIRED BY GEORGIA?
Anton: Not particularly. I usually have a plan in my head and it tends to change when I see something beautiful and eye-catching. Even if I were locked in a room without windows, I would continue to work, creating new images based on things I've already seen or new ideas that pop into my head. Sometimes I want to capture a fresh impression, like painting a cherry blossom as a quick exercise. But there are also more serious paintings that require a certain mood and more time. For example, I had an idea for a huge series of works about the sea using epoxy resin in 2019. It's almost finished but I had to postpone it because of our move. I worked on it with my younger sister Tamara, she has a different approach and makes graphics that look similar to Escher's, and our choice of fish is different too, we both love only octopuses!
DO YOU LIKE TO DRESS UP? YOU ALWAYS LOOK SO STYLISH!
Sasha: I think it gets easier with age.
Anton: Have we been dressing up? My current style is my baseball hat!
Sasha: We are indifferent to clothes. Recently, I started changing clothes for work because I didn't like getting paint all over my clothes. But before that, I didn't mind it. Anton still doesn't change clothes and walks around with paint all over him. He's comfortable that way. We work in the studio the same way, now I put a cloth on the floor, but when I was younger, I used to paint right on the floor and made a mess of the family's house parquet. I'm still thinking of how to make it up to them!