Avtandil (Avto) Antadze sees something special in everything that surrounds him, from living beings to inanimate objects. A person, an animal, a tree, a rock… A true artist, he believes, can breathe life into anything.
Inspiration comes from nature, music, people and even dreams. Artists have a unique power to serve the cause of beauty despite the surrounding turmoil, he says. Beauty is immortal.
Avto Antadze is always in the mood to create. Artist’s block and the pangs of creative process are as alien to him as are doubt and hesitation. He believes creative energy should flow freely and unobstructed.
That is the reason he often enjoys working fast with nothing interrupting the creative flow. Alla Prima, a technique of leaving the first strokes in place without further correction, is perfectly suited for many of his works.
To Antadze, the near-instantaneous creation is a sign of mastery. Although Alla Prima is best known as a painting technique, Avto uses it in sculpting. Fast-setting chamotte is a perfect substrate for this kind of on-the-fly creation. But this sculptor doesn’t stop there. He has even adapted Alla Prima to some of his bronze castings, for example the Ballroom Pianist. That was the only way to capture the fluidity of another form of creative act – musical performance.
It should come as no surprise that with his focus on uniqueness and capturing the moment, this passionate artist never makes duplicates of his work. Retracing his steps takes away the spontaneity which to him is a key element of artistic expression.
Although he has been working almost exclusively with bronze for the last 20 years, Antadze has also found self-expression through other materials such as chamotte, plaster, and bone. The artist’s interests are not limited to making sculptures although sculpting has been his biggest passion since he was 3. His collection of drawings and paintings reflect his interest in impressionism and cubism. Antadze has also mastered the art of woodburning and metal embossing.
Avto Antadze believes his dream of professional success has become a reality only thanks to his teachers. He has been fortunate to learn from the best artists of his time. For his early success, Antadze credits Zakro Kratsashvili, his teacher from the youth center. Zakro Kratsashvili provided the young artist not only with a great learning experience but also with encouragement to keep his dreams alive through the tough times.
Antadze is particularly grateful to Shota Mikatadze, his professor from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts. He also gives a lot of credit to Valerian Topuridze, a monumental sculptor, and Irakli Ochiauri. Those talented artists and teachers shared their skills and vision allowing Avto Antadze’s own talents to grow in many directions. He has always been interested in diversity and versatility learning as much as he could about many genres and then taking them to new levels.
When asked about his main direction as an artist, Antadze usually answers that his work reflects his era. But that does not mean he simply wants to chronicle the events around him. His art reflects life in a natural way, and in that he sees the authenticity of self-expression. That is the reason he does not like to name his works. He lets them speak for themselves directly.
With art being his true lifelong passion, Antadze spends many hours in his workshop every day and is constantly in the process of creating and planning. Hard work leads to luck, he believes. Throughout his long career, Avto Antadze has worked for many private collectors and on public projects. He enjoys presenting his work to the public and has been constantly participating in national and international exhibitions since 1974.
Avto Antadze lives with his family in his native Tbilisi, Georgia.
