Watch carefully. Listen carefully.  With the interplay of metal, stone and fire Goudji creates a polyphony of materials and this musical finesse resembles the prayer that was heard in the 20th century for everything, and at the same time, against everything amidst death, destruction and absurdity. Its repetition will never seem enough. Goudji has never tried to escape history, stay away from his century, from his native Georgia or France - his second homeland. It has been quite the opposite  he always depicted them, like he did anything else.

                   Stéphane Barsacq

     In Georgia…

   Immediately after the beginning of the World War II, the Amashukeli family moved from Batumi to Borjomi where Giorgi Amashukeli served as a chief physician. Giorgi's wife Nino was expecting, but due to the trip the delivery started earlier than it was anticipated…
   On July 6, 1941, little Elguja Amashukeli was born in Borjomi and was immediately given a pet name - Guja.
   Lord Giorgi Amashukeli came from the Amashuketi village in Imereti. After completing his education in Russia, he settled down in Batumi where he worked as a doctor. His wife Nino taught natural sciences - botany, zoology and anatomy at the Russian lyceum.
   Interestingly, in 1943 when Stalin restored a nominal autocephaly to the Georgian Church, secretly from her husband Nino took her two sons - Goudji and Nukri to Tbilisi and christened them, Choosing as their Christian names the names of two saints, the hero brothers: Elizbar for Goudji and Shalva for Nukri.
   After the war was over, the family returned to their tiny two-room apartment in Batumi, where they lived in extreme hardship. The Amashukelis had two very special things at home in which Nino took great pride. These were the German piano and the stereoscope which grandfather had brought from the 1900 world exhibition. This very stereoscope, an odd and rare object in Batumi at that time, became the main “nurturing book” for little Goudji. His memory has vividly retained the scenes of the cities and even the most insignificant architectural details that he could see through this instrument.
   As for the piano, indeed someone had to play it and, therefore, despite Goudji's objections, his mother sent him to a music school. But Goudji himself was fond of drawing and with the money that was intended as his tuition fee at the music school, the ten-year old boy went to the art school. It was only at the end of the third month that Nino found out everything. She took her son back to the music school, but she also allowed him to continue his studies at the art school.
   Having graduated from the art school with a gold medal, the seventeen-year-old Goudji sat his entrance examinations at Tbilisi Academy of Arts but failed. In 1959, following two unsuccessful attempts, he became an external student of the Academy. Only in 1960 did he enter the Faculty of Sculpture. During his studies at the Academy, Goudji remembers two teachers in particular - Vasil Shukhaev and Edmond Kalandadze.
   Goudji was unable to finish the Academy and obtain a graduation diploma. In 1962 his two friends swam to a foreign tanker moored in the Batumi port and asked the captain to take them beyond the “iron curtain” to Turkey. Of course, the two young men were reported on, captured and for the “betrayal of their homeland and illegal crossing of the border” were exiled for 6 years each. Goudji's friends advised him to leave the country as it was expected that he too would be interrogated. He immediately left Georgia for Moscow…
 

   In Russia…

   In Moscow Goudji tried different ways and means to obtain registration, or the right of residence, which would allow him to begin work there. He made memorial plaques, drawings and sketches for books and medals for the Moscow Mint; he made clay toy models of airplanes, tractors and military vehicles; drew placards and posters typical of Soviet propaganda and… found a permanent job. Soon, on the recommendation of the management of the Moscow Mint, at the age of 23 he was accepted to the Moscow section of the Artists' Union as its youngest member. The Union brought together artistic “elite”, providing special conditions for them both from creative and economic perspectives.
   In 1967 Goudji's father died. He returned to Batumi and stayed with his mother for a while there. It was at that time that Goudji discovered the workshop of two old tinsmiths, located on the outskirts of the city. For two months he acquainted himself with the centuries-old tradition of metal work and studied precise, masterly techniques. Here the painter studied the art of chasing on copper, melting, welding and clamping of metal. He learnt that the surface of the object that is being prepared for the application of tin, gets moderately heated up on burning charcoal and is cleaned by scattering ammonia over it; red-hot copper instantaneously melts the tiny pieces of ammonia and then, in the blink of an eye, the craftsman turns the white metal into a thin plate. The success of the entire process depends on the colour of the metal, the even distribution of heat, correct and quick movements, the extent of charcoal smouldering, smell, pungency of the tin and the amount of ammonia applied.
   The two months spent in Batumi provided a basis for the art of the future goldsmith and sculptor.
   The following year, supported by the Artists' Union, Goudji won a scholarship to study the famous Usol enamel work in Solvichegosdsk. After a thorough study of the Kremlin and Hermitage treasures and tentative experiments conducted at the Moscow Historical Museum, he developed a new technique and applied white enamel to a number of bowls executed in copper chasing.
   Later, Goudji used knowledge and experience gained in metal working to undertake a series of large projects. Chiselled articles, ceremonial halls decorated with the figures of animals worked in copper, interior design of dachas, fireplaces, a variety of lighting and Venetian blinds attracted the attention of the Soviet and foreign audience alike.

   In 1967, Goudji met a twenty-year-old French girl, Katherine Barsacq in Moscow. The young interpreter, who had come to Moscow for eight days to polish her Russian, stayed eight years in the capital of the Soviet Union. The Cultural Attaché of the French Embassy assigned her the mission of promoting French culture in the Soviet Union.
   Despite numerous administrative hurdles, Katherine and Goudji were married in 1969. As a result, Goudji lost his job, his orders and all the privileges that he had enjoyed before the marriage. He was also forced to leave the Artists' Union. His every attempt to obtain the right to leave Russia for France failed, with no explanation offered. Several times Katherine's father, Andre Barsacq, sought the help of Georges Pompuidou, the French President and it was due to these attempts that Goudji was included in the list which, by the direct instruction of the head of the state, regulated the disputable cases of people willing to leave for foreign countries. At the end of 1973, Goudji was unexpectedly told that he had one month to depart from the Soviet Union. Together with his one and a half-year-old son Stéphane, Goudji immediately set off to Batumi to say good-bye to his mother. Of course, Nino understood that this was the last time she saw her son and the grandson…
   A friend accompanied Goudji, Katherine and Stéphane to the airport. …
 

   In France…

   On January 31, 1974, Goudji arrived in France and went to Montmartre the very next day. A walk from the Place de Tertere to Sacre Coeur, the beautiful and misty Paris in February and the scenes that unfolded before him, brought back the memories of his grandfather's stereoscope. He felt relieved and at home and realized that he felt good about it…
   In France, the artist was first given a one-year residence permit. Later it was extended for another three years. In 1978, after filing an income declaration, he was already a French citizen, who registered officially as Guy Georges Amashukeli. Baptized as Elizbar, Elguja became a Frenchman Georges Amashukeli but he still signed his works as “Goudji” and entered it in the official documents as a pseudonym …
   The first three months following his arrival turned out to be rather difficult. It was hard to adjust to the restless rhythm of life in Paris at once. It had to gather all his strength and start a new life. Katherine was concerned by his apathy. In his youth Goudji dreamt of becoming a goldsmith and wanted to create unique, fascinating works that would praise God…
   Little by little Goudji became used to European lifestyle…
   In the Soviet Union working on precious metals was prohibited. Goudji's first works in silver are brooches with sardions, jade, chrysoprases and the Black Sea pebbles executed in 1969. Later, he presented a necklace made of silver and sardions to his sister-in-law. This was all the jewellery that Goudji had made before leaving for France.
   Here, on Montmartre, in a twelve-meter studio located in front of Theo and Vincent Van Gogh's house, Goudji created his first series of jewellery (praised by renowned couturier, Hubert de Givenchy). He put on his own seal made up of his Georgian initials and Latin signature and exhibited his works in the famous Sven Gallery in Paris. The jewellery was sold, encouraging him to continue his creative work.
   The copper bijouterie began to resemble the goldsmith's works. From 1975, the artist covered his works with silver using electrolysis. Tiny, unpretentious objects became much grander. Connoisseurs in jewellery started to talk about Goudji. In 1976 the Sven Gallery exhibited his works at the Paris international fair of contemporary art and many exhibitions followed: the Bijorka international specialized salon of goldsmith bijouterie and watches, the most significant exhibition in Switzerland (Palais des Exposition de Bâle, 1981), the Antiquities and Jeweller's High Art biennale in the Grand Palais de Paris (1982), Germany (1983, 1986), Luxembourg (Jean Hilger Gallery, 1985), New-York (Arras Gallery, 1986-87), Miami (Gallery 99, 1987-1988), London, Munich, Barcelona, and many others.
   From the very beginning Goudji refused to produce serial jewellery. Items created by him represent only a single specimen. When galleries request him to make copies of his works exhibited in the salons, he refuses offering to create a new collection bearing the same idea.
   Félicien Marceau, a theatre dramatist, was the first of the “40 immortals” of the Academie Française who in 1976 commissioned Goudji to make a sword. This was the first time in the history of the French Academy that one person (and not a group of artists) was entrusted with the creation of the academicians' symbol. After this Goudji made nine other swords for the “immortals”.
   Also in 1976, one of Goudji's friends advised him to start working on objects “that had shape”, that is on small-scale sculptures. This was not easy to do, because the technique required a large amount of initial material and was extremely time-consuming. The first works in silver-plated copper were simple objects. They did impress the viewers though, bringing recognition and immense success to the artist. In 1980 Goudji made his first massive silver sculpture. This was a knari-type (oval-shaped Georgian musical string instrument) vessel with the head and horns of a calf. Later it became the symbol of the painter's artistic work, which Katherine refused to sell and kept along with several other most favourite creations.
 

   Some time later, Goudji shared the dream of his youth with a friend. He wanted to create ecclesiastical items and in 1987, at the request of the Sacral Art Committee, the master created a number of religious objects for the National Contemporary Art Fund. These works were displayed at the international colloquium of the contemporary ecclesiastic art, held at the Epos Abbey (Sart). Though the mediation of Cardinal Loustigé, a vessel used for baptizing executed in chased silver plates and granite, an incrusted wide-necked round little bowl and an Easter candlestick were transferred to the possession of the Notre Dame de Paris where they were used by Pope John-Paul II during the communal baptizing ceremony that took place during the World Youth Days held in Paris in August 1997.
   Today, many churches commission Goudji to create various objects for them. It was the gateway hammer made by him that was used by Pope John-Paul II to open and close the gate of the Saint Peter's Cathedral at the ceremony marking the passage into the third Millennium.

   ***
   Merging the art of copper-welder, goldsmith and jeweller, Goudji captures the spirituality of antique carving taking us back to the cradle of civilization. His outstanding talent combined with an exquisite craftsmanship, unique knowledge, sharp eye, perseverance, energy and musical rhythm are the qualities that create this unique art. Just like Prometheus of Pygmalion, he creates live shapes and imbues them with divine fire.
   Goudji's art is a contemporary alchemy but before giving life to the material and endowing it with strength, beauty and universality, he must search for it and tame it…
   It seems as if Goudji, the messenger of bygone days and archaeologist of the future, remembers and recreates, transforms and inspires. His art goes beyond the present and is ageless, eternal…

Jacques Santrot
Gio Alexishvili