Gocha Chkadua
Born 1964, Tbilisi, Georgia.
Gocha currently lives and works in New York City.
Gocha has gone a long way, both geographically and literally, in establishing himself as a unique inventor and designer.
After finishing High School, in1984-1985 Gocha travelled over 8,000 miles from Soviet Georgia to the Pacific port city Vladivostok, Russia to study in a prestigious medical school. While in Medical school he decide to pursue his childhood obsession – industrial invention and design. The price for his non-conformance was a two-year stint as a conscript soldier in the Soviet Union, at the time bogged down in Afghanistan.
Eventually having found his way home to Georgia, he dropped out from Medical school. 1988-1993 Gocha Chkadua studied Industrial Design at the State Academy of Arts in Tbilisi.
In 1996 he emigrated to the United States, first working on sets for the Julie Taymor's famous Broadway production of the play Green Bird.
1998 Gocha worked at the Minnesota Museum of Science, in Minneapolis where he helped to construct installations. While there, his colleagues branded him with the nickname as “Problem Solver”.
Among his more provocative creations In 1999 was hand-made original magnetic smoking pipe made up of powerful magnets which could easily be disguised as an ordinary pendant. The “Magnet-Pipe” which was reviewed in various magazines around the world, including I.D. Magazine (International Design Magazine, April 2000), USA; LODOWN, Entertainment magazine, (Germany); BIOND, New Lifestyle Magazine, (June,2000,, Germany), Time Out, (NY, 2000), and Spectator, (Japan).
In 2001, Gocha founded his own first company, Gocha Chkadua Design. For over 10 years Gocha had been inventing small objects using discarded found peaces of objects . He invented various prototypes, including designs of household items and toys employing powerful magnets.
Since 2010 Gocha has been working on Sculptures and Art installations in collaboration with his sister, the painter Eteri Chkadua, with an emphasis on ecological themes.
His first installation "My Yard", was displayed at the Artisterium, Karvasla National Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia in 2011.
In 2012 his installation, "Colors Insulting To Nature", was hosted by Gallery 151, in New York City. Same year another installation "Bloom On the Edge" was displayed at the KOTE international art exhibition in Kingston, Jamaica. In 2013, installation "Alien Bloom" was part of an "Unusual Exhibition" at the Museum of Literature, Tbilisi. 2014 - Eteri and Gocha Chkadua Studio lounged unique toy-dart- jewelry design--LoveBomb--at the National Museum stores of Blue Gallery and Karvasla Museum, Tbilisi.
Exhibitions
2016 Since January, Consulate of Georgia, New York, NY;
2014 Eteri and Gocha Chkadua Studio lounged unique toy-dart-jewelry design LuvBomb at the Blue Gallery, National Museum and Karvasla Museum, Tbilisi;
2013 An Unusual Exhibition, Museum of Literature, Tbilisi, Georgia;
Bloom On The Edge, Kingston , Jamaica :
2012 Colors Insulting To Nature, Gallery 151, in New York, NY,
2011 My Yard, Artisterium, Karvasla National Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia
1999 Designed unique Magnetic Pipe, which was reviewed in I.D. Magazine, (International Design Magazine, April 2000): Lowdown, entertainment magazine, Germany; Blond, New Lifestyle Magazine, Germany, 2000; Time Out, NY, 2000, NY; Spectator, Japan.
Group Exhibitions:
2018 Natural Proclivities, Fiterman Art Center, NY, (Upcoming);
East End Collected4, South Hampton Art Center, South Hampton, NY;
2017 Alien Bloom, Longhouse Reserve, East Hampton, NY
2015 APERTO 18, Venice, Italy.