Luca Lazar

Luka Lasareishvili (ლუკა ლასარეიშვილი), known professionally as Luca Lazar, is a Georgian artist.

Biography
He was born on 14 November 1957 in Tbilisi, Georgia, then the Soviet Union. He studied at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts from 1976 to 1982, graduating with a Masters of Fine Arts degree. Since 1982 he has been working as an independent artist, and has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums. He has worked in a variety of media: painting, installations, object and video art.

From 1985 until 1988 Lazar lived and worked in Moscow, before moving to Paris. Lazar spent 1989 in Kassel, Germany, as an artist-in-residence with the Museum Fridericianum. From 1990 until 2003 he lived and worked in Cologne. Lazar remained in Germany through the fall of the Soviet Union and turbulence in his native Georgia, and he eventually received German citizenship. From 1997 until 2005 he held a position as lecturer at the European Academy of Fine Arts in Trier, Germany. In 2003 Lazar relocated to New York City, where he has continued his artistic career.

Art


By the late 1990s Lazar started to concentrate mainly on geometrical art, which was followed by minimal abstract explorations, resulting in a series titled "The White Curtain" and a series titled "One-liners". From this point onward Lazar started to develop his own signature style, based on minimal abstract art, geometric art, optical art and containing undertones of expressionist art. His works are described as "Moving Stills", due to their sensation of continuous flowing movement in space.

Selected exhibitions
2012 “Georgian artists of the 80s and 90s”, The National Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia

2011 “Festinova” – Art festival, Georgian Art Centre “Garikula”, Georgia"Georgian Artists working in Europe", as part of European days events –Tbilisi, Georgia

2010 “ART MOSCOW”- Moscow “COINCIDENCE” - Spektre Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (USA)

2009 “Born in Georgia”, Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen, NL, (K)“L’Art Contemporian De Georgie” Chateau de Saint-Auvent, (France)‘’ Tbilissi Underground’ 09’’    (France)

2008 ‘’Paris Montparnasse Tbilissi’’ Le Musse du Montparnsse, Paris, (France) (K)

2007 55 Mercer Gallery – ‘’Moving Stills’’ New York, NY (USA)

2006 A Space Gallery - presents ‘’Intrinsic Form’’ Brooklyn, NY (USA)

2005/2006 “Moving Stills”, Gallery Schüppenhauer, Cologne (Germany)

2005 Grant Gallery ‘’Mysticism in Art’’ New York, NY, (USA)

2004 “Art from Perestroika till today”, State Art Museum, Tbilisi (Georgia) –(k)“Invitation to a Beheading”, Gallery Schüppenhauer, Cologne (Germany)

2003 "Statements Basel-Köln”, Gallery Kämpf, Basel (Switzerland) and Gallery Schüppenhauer, Cologne (Germany)

2002 “ART Frankfurt” (Germany)

2001 "One-liners", Gallery Jule Kewenig Frechen-Bachem (Germany)

2000 "The White Curtain", Gallery Schüppenhauer, Cologne (Germany)

1999 "Fazit" - Moving Images, Neon-installation, Gallery Schüppenhauer, Cologne (Germany)

1998 "Transformation" Installation - UNESCO, Paris (France)-(k) "The Bridging" Installation art in public space, Cologne (Germany)"Opposite of Eden" Installation, Art House Kaufbeuren (Germany)-(k)"Dialogue" Museum for Regional History and Art, Buxtehude (Germany)-(k)

1997 "The Conscience" - "STADT(t)ART" Installation Art countrywide cooperation project, Hürth (Germany) -(k) "M.E.S.S.A.G.E." Positions of current art –Video-installation Gallery Schüppenhauer, Cologne (Germany)-(k)

1996 "Dialogue" Leopold Hoisch Museum, Düren (Germany)-(k) 1995 Art Cologne 4, Josef-Haubrich-Art-Hall, Cologne (Germany)-(k)Ursula-Blickle-Art-Prize for "Installation", 1st prize, with special foreword and recognition in catalogue by Ilya Kabakov, Ursula-Blickle-Foundation, Kraichtal (Germany) -(k)

1994 "Last Supper" - Gallery Jule Kewenig, Frechen-Bachem (Germany)             (In the Showroom of Gallery Johnen& Schöttle, Cologne) –(k)

1993 "Crusades III" - Installation, Cologne (Germany) (in cooperation with Gallery Friedrich, Cologne)

1992 "The Cradle of Humanity", Frankfurt am Main (Germany) (In cooperation with Price Waterhouse Corporate Finance and the Worldwide Life Foundation)-(k)

1991 Two Georgian Painters – Museum St. Wendel (Germany)-(k)

1990 "Georgia on my Mind" - Four Painters from Tbilisi, Dumont Art Hall, Cologne (Germany)-(k)Paintings from Georgia, Mona-Bismarck-Foundation, Paris (France)-(k)International Exhibition in the House of Arts, Cagnes (France): 2nd prize by Art critics jury-(c)Two Georgian Painters – Arts Hall Kiel (Germany)

1989 Soviet Contemporary Art, Hôtel de Ville, Strasbourg (France) (with Ilya Kabakov)-(c)Exhibition on new Soviet Painting, Warschau (Poland)-(c)"Perestroika Man" - Three Georgian Painters, Soviet Art House, Moscow (Russia)-(c)"Georgia on my Mind" - Four Painters from Tbilisi, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel (Germany) –(c)

1988 "Glasnost" - the new freedom of Russian painters, Art Hall Emden (Germany)-New Art from the USSR and Bulgaria, Dallas (USA)

1987 "Generation-80", House of Arts Tbilisi (Georgia)Exhibition Georgian Abstract Art, Exhibition Hall "Ermitage", Moscow (Russia)First Group Exhibition of abstract art by Georgian artists, State Paintings Gallery, Tbilisi (Georgia)"Interart-87", International Art Market/Bourse of Socialist countries, Warschau (Poland)

since 1982 Participation in several exhibition throughout the Soviet Union