Nika Kutateladze was born in 1989 in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he lives and works. Trained initially as an architect, he brings to painting a heightened awareness of structure, construction, and spatial tension. His work is rooted in figuration but unfolds within a deliberately dark and unstable visual language, where form is continually threatened by dissolution.
Kutateladze’s paintings are inhabited by shadowed figures, fragmented faces, and obscured bodies that emerge from dense, often somber surfaces. These presences appear weighed down, suspended, or partially erased, as if caught between visibility and disappearance. Darkness in his work is not merely atmospheric; it functions as a material condition, shaping both the image and the psychological space it occupies.
Built through layers of paint, abrasion, and repetition, his compositions evoke processes of accumulation and decay. The surface retains traces of construction and collapse, reflecting an architectural logic pushed toward entropy. Muted palettes—dominated by blacks, greys, and deep earth tones—reinforce a sense of confinement and introspection, while occasional chromatic tensions disrupt the visual field.
Through this sustained engagement with opacity and fragmentation, Kutateladze proposes a form of painting marked by existential weight and restraint. His work resists narrative clarity, inviting the viewer into a space of uncertainty and unease, where the human figure is present not as an image to be read, but as a fragile and unsettled presence.
His work has been presented in a number of significant contemporary art contexts. In 2025, Kutateladze was the subject of a solo presentation at Art Basel, marking an important milestone in his career. He has also participated in exhibitions at galleries and institutions in Europe and internationally, contributing to his growing recognition within the field of contemporary painting.