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Goudji
catalogue exhibition December 2000



      This catalogue has been published at the occasion of Goudji's solo exhibition, 6-21 December 2000, and is compiled and written by Koen Nieuwendijk. (16 pages, 19 full colour reproductions, Dutch/English, ISBN 90-70-402-13-0)






      The most beautiful paradox in our contemporary world:
That is what the Goudji narrative is all about.
The story of the past
Through contemporary eyes
The paradox of enjoyment, sloth and complexity
Which used not to exist before:
In the old days luxury was never objected to.
The basic premises were straightforward:
Eat or be eaten
There were only a happy few on whom someone like Macchiavelli was not wasted
Higher powers as much as their lower counterparts
Made a deeper impression with pomp and circumstance,
With cruelties and violence,
Than with the subtleties we are hopeful to favour



      Our attention is caught all the more compellingly
By Goudji's Spartan luxury
We had forgotten
How mercilessly beautiful something can be
How lustrous and spellbinding
Devoid of intellectual baggage
By way of argument in any event, for thinking is of all ages
No wonder:
As a Georgian countryman,
Born and bred in an area
Where cultures have always flourished
And which we feast our eyes on from a distance,
Goudji contributes his entire heritage



      Suddenly the confrontation is there,
As if with tangible myths:
A goblet holding an entire hall aloft
Where the clatter of arms has been silenced for just an instant
Where the appreciation of the divine still commands awe
Where respect, drawn like a bow,
Lets go into a symbol
The wheel of time knows beginning nor end
Silver spokes blinding our sober brain
The tale of riches
The perennial object of our desire
Wisdom, severity, love, beauty
Now captured in silver and precious stones:
That is what Goudji has bestowed upon us


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