After a decade-long absence, Berlin-based Georgian artist Thea Djordjadze makes a compelling return to New York with her solo exhibition, “A well of night,” currently captivating audiences at Sprüth Magers until October 24, 2026. This landmark exhibition marks Djordjadze’s debut solo show at the gallery’s New York location, where she masterfully weaves her installations into a profound dialogue with the building’s distinguished neo-Renaissance architecture.
Sculpture as Conversation: Art in Dialogue with Architecture
Djordjadze is celebrated for her unique approach to art-making, where the surrounding architectural environment isn’t merely a backdrop but an integral participant in the creation of her site-specific sculptural environments. Her installations are not simply placed within a space; they are born from it, responding to its history, lines, and atmosphere.
“For me, the building and the design and the architecture are very important,” Djordjadze shared with Elephant in 2024. “The sculpture is making decisions; it’s telling me where to go, how to be positioned. It’s not only me. It’s the interaction between me and the sculpture and the building.” This philosophy underscores the dynamic interplay at the heart of her practice, transforming passive viewing into an immersive experience.
‘A Well of Night’: Blending Eras and Mediums
The exhibition, “A well of night,” is a testament to Djordjadze’s evolving vision, seamlessly integrating existing pieces with a compelling array of new works. Among these are striking new plaster relief paintings and reconfigured sculptures, each piece contributing to a rich narrative that bridges past and present. Driven by a deep curiosity about how context shapes artistic perception, Djordjadze describes her process of configuring an exhibition as “listening to the void, listening to the building, to the pieces.” This intuitive approach allows her to craft environments that resonate deeply with their surroundings.
Painterly Reliefs: Uniting Dimensions
Within “A well of night,” Djordjadze presents a fascinating juxtaposition of industrial materials like steel and aluminum with her new sculptural paintings. These works are characterized by their rich pigmentation, meticulously worked into porous surfaces and built up in tactile layers across a creamy plaster ground. The result is a captivating 3D abstraction, often referred to as a painterly relief, which ingeniously merges the disciplines of painting and sculpture into a singular, cohesive form.
Spatial Alchemy: Manipulating Perception
The exhibition’s title itself, “A well of night,” hints at a profound darkness, a concept Djordjadze deftly subverts through her spatial interventions. She dramatically alters the gallery’s dark hardwood floors by cladding them with light-colored vinyl, a move that blurs conventional spatial boundaries and fundamentally transforms the viewer’s experience of the room. This deliberate play on contrast is central to her aesthetic.
Further enhancing this curated setting, Djordjadze includes a steel vitrine containing a print sealed behind plexiglass. This reflective surface ingeniously incorporates the surrounding space into the artwork itself, making the environment an active component of the piece. This particular form, first introduced in 2017, also subtly nods to her Georgian heritage, drawing inspiration from mid-century display cases designed by Georgian anthropologist Alexander Javakhishvili and painter Avtandil Varazi for Tbilisi’s archaeological museum.
The Ever-Evolving Work
For Djordjadze, her creations are never truly “finished.” She views each piece as a work in progress, constantly reevaluating its relationship to other works and to the unique characteristics of each new exhibition space. This philosophy of continuous evolution ensures that her art remains vibrant, responsive, and perpetually engaging.
Thea Djordjadze’s “A well of night” offers a rare opportunity to witness an artist at the peak of her powers, challenging perceptions of space, material, and the very nature of art itself. Don’t miss this profound exhibition at Sprüth Magers, New York, running until October 24, 2026.
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