From Darkness to Light — Paintings, Memory and the White Cube in Tbilisi

Eleven new Caucasus paintings at Vernissage Gallery Tbilisi, on the occasion of the publication of the catalog In the Prison of Art — 137 paintings from 30 years in Georgia.

Eleven new Caucasus paintings at Vernissage Gallery Tbilisi, on the occasion of the publication of the catalog In the Prison of Art — 137 paintings from 30 years in Georgia.

Hans Heiner Buhr opens From Darkness to Light at Vernissage Gallery Tbilisi on 3 June 2026 — new paintings tracing thirty years between East Berlin and the Caucasus, alongside the first presentation of his catalogue In the Prison of Art.

Three recent drawings of caravans and pack horses, accompanied by the poem Desire — a meditation on movement, longing, trade routes, and the imagined landscapes between the Caspian Sea and Isfahan.

The Caravan is a 2016 oil painting by Hans Heiner Buhr, painted in Tbilisi on two joined canvases. The work shows a rider with pack horses and herd protection dogs — one of the artist’s recurring Caucasus motifs.

„Kontrabanda“ ist ein Gemälde über Handel, Erinnerung und Zeit im Kaukasus – entstanden aus einer Begegnung im Schnee im Jahr 1997 und entwickelt über 29 Jahre hinweg.

In the mid-1990s Caucasus, trade meant survival. Years later, one encounter became a painting about memory, exchange, and human resilience.
1992 წელს ამსტერდამში, Gerrit Rietveld Academie-ში სტუდენტი ვიყავი, და ერთ მარტოსულ ღამეს იქ ჩემი ერთ-ერთი ყველაზე უცნაური ნახატი შეიქმნა. იმ დროს „ფერწერის დეპარტამენტს“ სახელწოდება შეუცვალეს და „Autonomous“ — „დამოუკიდებელი“ დაარქვეს. არსებითად, სტუდენტებს თითქმის ყველაფრის გაკეთება შეეძლოთ, ოღონდ საკუთარი პოზიცია დამაჯერებლად…
В 1992 году я был студентом Академии Gerrit Rietveld в Амстердаме. В то время название «отделения живописи» было изменено на «Автономное» — студенты могли делать практически всё что угодно, лишь бы могли хорошо защитить свою позицию. Это было время компьютеров…
1992 malte ich in einer Nacht in Amsterdam den ukrainischen Fallschirmjäger. Drei Jahrzehnte später sind die Konflikte, die mich damals beschäftigten, noch immer nicht gelöst. Ein persönlicher Text über Malerei, Krieg, Erinnerung und Georgien.

Oil on Soviet school map, 1961 · 2011–12 · Heiner Buhr I buy old maps at the Dry Bridge flea market in Tbilisi. Usually 20 to 30 Lari for a large one. I have 70 or 80 of them by…