NINO KAPANADZE

CASCADES

Solo exhibition, 24 May – 22 June 2025

Opening reception : Saturday 24 May, from 5 to 7.30 PM
Chapel Sainte-Croix, Villa Atrata | 86260 Angles-sur-l’Anglin

Nino Kapanadze’s painting stands out for its approach that is both intuitive and conceptual, with each canvas becoming a sensory space imbued with mystery — an invitation to contemplation. Oscillating between abstraction and figuration, her work explores the shifting thresholds of perception, guided by a deep sensitivity to material and light. Color, applied in diaphanous, almost translucent layers, gives rise to suspended atmospheres—dreamlike spaces where evanescent subjects seem to float, visible yet elusive. Though enigmatic in appearance, her works remain deeply evocative: for Nino Kapanadze, painting is a space of dialogue—between natural elements, cultural traditions, personal memories, and history at large.

Created during her residency at Villa Atrata in Angles-sur-l’Anglin, the Waterfalls series, composed of eight paintings, explores the passage of time through the motif of the waterfall. Formally, these works lie at the heart of a spatial research centered on vertical dynamics, creating a conceptual intersection with the horizontal compositions of her Horserace series (initiated in 2021), which focuses on the motif of the horse. Presented free-standing within the Sainte-Croix chapel, the Waterfalls assert a sculptural presence and fully inhabit the space of this spiritual site, intimately connected to the Anglin River. The natural stones, collected locally, evoke the old abbey church, half of which was destroyed. The artist assembles them in front of the altar as an offering, a return of what was once lost and now serves as the foundation for the installation. The images thus resonate with the village’s aquatic and mineral surroundings, revealing the sacred dimension of waterfalls—both in nature and in the human imagination:

Fast falling
That never un-falls
Through your vacuumed veins
How long ago did the spilling occur
If anyone thought you could be born yet
Was the first sacrifice already burnt?

Nino Kapanadze

Nino Kapanadze (b. in 1990, Tbilisi) is a Georgian artist who lives and works in Paris. She graduated from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Sciences Po Paris, and the Faculty of Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Her work has been featured in several exhibitions in France and internationally, including: Studio Conversations, David Zwirner, Paris, France, 2025; Rendezvous, Fondazione Bonollo, Vicenza, Italy, 2025; Meet me by the Lake, Clearing, New York, USA, 2024; Horserace (Doghi), LC Queisser, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2023.

Upcoming solo exhibitions: Cavalcade, Villa Atrata, Paris, France, 2025; Clearing, New York / Los Angeles, USA, 2025.

Institutional collections: Lafayette Anticipations Foundation (France); Noewe Foundation (Lithuania); Sigg Art Foundation (France), Fondazione Bonollo (Italy). In 2024, Nino Kapanadze also painted a mural at the Moulin des Ribes in Grasse (France) for the Silvia Fiorucci collection.