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Georgia On My Mind  2015-2017  oil on linen  76x52 in.  (193x132 cm)
In 1981, the Republic of Georgia, was still a part of the Soviet Union. We couldn't imagine ever getting out of there. Right after entry exams into the Art Academy in Tbilisi, I went straight to the Academy's summer camp in a small village called Akhalkalaki.   Akhalkalaki, (In English translation Newtown) was backwards in every way. The art students were not so happily welcomed there.
Most of the time we stayed in a 2 floor building and painted on the large balcony. We painted and drank alcohol till early mornings, sometimes with professors. Some students brought a few vinyls, smuggled illegally into the Soviet Union by their famous filmmaker parents or perhaps KGB members. While painting there, songs by Aretha Franklin, Steve Wonder and Rey Charles filled an air around us. This was our first "experience" of a dreamland America -these songs were only connected to America. BY 5-6 am we'd go to the local sideway  shack, for the soup, called Khashi. Khashi is made out of intestines of a cow, with lots of garlic and milk added. In Georgia, Khashi is considered as the best cure for hangovers.

Myself, a long time vegetarian, I  keep the "memory " of  the sharp smell and the strange texture of the Khashi ingredients mixed with American Soul music  in my hallucinatory Alien Bloom garden.