He is no Longer there, but I Still Fill him, 2026

Gela Mikava  

Born in 1995 in Zugdidi, Georgia, Gela Mikava is a Georgian contemporary artist who lives and works in Tbilisi. Trained as an architect, he received his BA in Architecture from Georgian Technical University in 2018 and completed his MA in 2021. His artistic practice developed at the intersection of painting, material research, and installation, exploring the relationship between personal and collective memory, material history, and contemporary experience.
A distinctive element of Mikava's practice is his use of authentic Soviet-era biazi cotton fabric, reclaimed from old domestic interiors. Previously used as ceiling covering in Soviet-period homes, the fabric is carefully removed, cleaned, and transformed into a surface for painting. For the artist, this material functions as a form of archive, carrying traces of domestic life, time, use, and disappearance before becoming part of the artwork.
Mikava's practice is closely connected to his concept of “Post-Socialist Radiation," through which he examines the subtle psychological and aesthetic traces of Soviet ideology that continue to exist within contemporary life. Working across painting, textile, collage, and installation, he employs processes of layering, absorption, washing, peeling, obscuring, and erasure to explore how memory can remain embedded within materials and surfaces.
His projects include *The Bijouterie*, *Post-Alienation*, *Infanta Destruction*, *Predators & Herbivores*, *Artificial Flowers*, and *What Remains of Gesture*. His work has been presented internationally in Europe and the United States, including a solo exhibition *It is Heard — The Silence, I See — Nothing* in Atlanta in 2024. His work has also been presented at art fairs and exhibitions in London and is held in private and institutional collections, including the Lester Marks Collection.