About Gena Lakoba
My name is Gennady Lakoba. I was born on August 11, 1948, in Sukhumi, Abkhazia.
In 1962, I enrolled at the Sukhumi Art School, where I had the privilege of interacting with prominent figures who significantly influenced my artistic growth, such as the renowned Russian artist Varvara Bubnova (who spent 40 years living in Japan), art critic Pyotr Kulchitsky (a close associate of Pavel Filonov), artist Sandro Razmadze, sculptor Merab Tsintsabadze, and artist Tatiana Shalamberidze.
I studied sculpture at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts, graduating in 1974. My drawing instructor was Vasili Shukhaev, an accomplished artist who collaborated with Sergei Diaghilev in Paris during the 1920s. At the Academy, I also studied sculpture under the guidance of Shota Mikatadze, Nicholas Kandelaki, Gogi Ochiauri, and Merab Tsintsabadze.
In 1976, I joined the Union of Artists of the USSR. In 1978, I continued my studies in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).
I am a member of the International Association of Art (UNESCO), the Moscow Union of Artists, the Belarusian Union of Artists and the Artists’ Union of Abkhazia, and an Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts.
Since 1992, I have lived and worked in Belarus, Russia, and Spain. I now live and work in Spain, where I work on a series of sculptures in bronze and marble and also create tapestries.
My sculpture Luda is in the collection of the State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg.
Critics on Gena Lakoba
I haven’t seen any other artist talented to such an extent and so obviously predestined for the decoration of big public buildings, majestic walls and structures — and moreover in the most original and impressive artistic images. Unfortunately, fortune hasn’t yet turned to him with this side. But I still hope and believe that there will appear the people and the countries for which Gennady Lakoba will be able to create his images of heroic courage, the spirit of power and beauty.
— Anatoli Kantor, President of the Art Critics’ Academy of Russia, Merited Art Worker of Russia
Gennady Lakoba is the name in modern art which I hope will represent our time to following generations with dignity. He is a serious artist creating not “goods” but “works”. Possessing a powerful innate gift, Gennady Lakoba also uses in his creative work the golden reserve of cultural and artistic erudition, which enables him to seek himself in various creative directions and to create his own unique style while learning from the masters of the past.
— Larisa Skobkina, art critic, Department Head of the Central Exhibition Hall “Manege”, Saint Petersburg
Gennady Lakoba gives the impression of a contemporary artist of the European type, based on traditional modernism, capable of a wider contextual assessment of works of art and other phenomena of the realities of life. Since 1992 he has lived in Belarus, travelling around the world and showing his works in museums and galleries — in Germany, France, Croatia, Spain and America, and of course in Minsk, Grodno, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. He does not forget Abkhazia, where his works are well known.
— Lyudmila Pavlova, Head of the Exhibition Department of the Sochi Art Museum