TBC Art Gallery

The introduction

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all doing just fine.

In this article I want to tell you about this place in Tbilisi, which I just found out about and I must say, that I have been nearby that place many times and I have seen this building many times and I just thought, that it was just a building and then I thought, that it was this another TBC bank branch and I didn’t pay too much attention to it because of that, if you want to know the truth. However, then it turned out, that it was not just another TBC bank branch, rather, it was called TBC Art Gallery and it was a great thing and some interesting things were in there, which I will tell you about in my article. But first, let me tell you , that if you are interested in some art and you want to see some really good pieces of art free of charge and in a comfortable way, you should definitely visit this place and, besides, it’s not hard to find this building and it’s just in an efficient place, I mean, getting there is really easy and it’s not that hard to find it. And it’s location is such great , that you can hang out with your friends, because there are all those things nearby, such as McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts and Subway and other dining places and there’s this Marjanishvili Theatre just across the street, too, and, well, there are many things you can do besides visiting this TBC Art Gallery, if you want to know the truth.

TBC Art Gallery is one of the galleries in Tbilisi and I have just found out about it recently, I mean, I didn’t even know, that something like that existed somewhere in Tbilisi, because I had never thought about it, I guess. And when I heard about that I was pretty glad and I wanted to visit it at once.

Well, when I first heard about this art gallery, it was February this year or something like that and I saw it on facebook, if you want to know the truth and I didn’t even know, where it was, all I knew about it was that there would be Pirosmani paintings exhibited for some time and it would be a great opportunity for every interested person to pay a visit to this art gallery and see the paintings themselves there, because those two paintings were just been reconstructed and they were exhibited in any gallery for the first time after so many years. You should know, that Pirosmani is a well known painter in Georgia and he is like one of the symbols of Georgia, if you want to know the truth, so that it’s an honor for every Georgian to see his paintings themselves and, to be honest, there are many of his paintings outside of Georgia and some of them are lost and some of them are in galleries or are owned by some persons and stuff like that.

Anyways, when I heard, that Pirosmani paintings were renovated and they would be exhibited somewhere, I wondered, where they would be exhibited, however, I hadn’t searched things about it, if  you want to know the truth. And then, suddenly, it all came out pretty well and this thing popped up on my facebookand I was very happy about that, you know. So, that was how I first got to know about this TBC Art Gallery and decided to visit it, though I thought, that there were only those Pirosmani paintings exhibited there and I wondered, why they had that exhibition and why they had an exhibition in the first place and then I realized, that it was supposed to be an art gallery promoting art in Georgia, I guess.

About TBC Art Gallery

Well, the TBC Art Gallery was founded in 2012 and it’s a little awkward for me, that I didn’t know anything about it until just recently , I mean, it’s 2017 already and I just found out about it, though I had been nearby that place many times since 2012, if you want to know the truth.

So, I know, that there are some art exhibited there and there are sculptures and statues made by some young Georgians and stuff like that and there were also some pretty interesting things there, which I will tell you about, but first, let me tell you about the entrance and things like that.

To tell you the truth, there didn’t seem to be much security with the first look, however, when we entered, there were security guys, who would ask us where we were going and if we needed any helpand, you know, they would ask that in a normal polite way and not that way, that most people ask when entering some public building like that or whatever. So that, the staff there was very nice and they didn’t make any discomfort to us and we were pretty glad about that, because when you enter a building, there should be this nice atmosphere that you will want to be in that building and not want to leave it at once, you know. There are these shops, especially the perfume ones, where the consultants are jumping on you with all those questions about whether they can help me or not and what I’m looking for and what I need and stuff like that and that’s pretty annoying and I guess, I have mentioned that in my other articles, too, and that is something, that I can never get used to and whenever that kind of stuff happens, I just get out of that shop and get into another one, if I don’t have to buy something there in that particular shop.

Anyways, the environment in the TBC Art Gallery was very nice and when we told the security, that we wanted to see Pirosmani paintings, they told us to go into that round “door” or something like that and then we would get in and then we would go upstairs on the fourth floor, where the exhibition was. These round doors were pretty cool, I mean, there were two of them and one was for entering and the other one was for getting out. And they told us, that we should go in separately, I mean, there should go just one person, so we got in line and it would start spinning slowly and we were on the other side in some seconds.

There were large stairs inside and there were even larger mirrors between the floors on the walls and everything was just very well decided and I really liked the decorations there, and everything was just perfect, if you want to know the truth. The colours were nice and not dull and not very vivid either, and the stairs were just something really beautiful and the sculptures were all around and it was all cozy and vast, at the same time.

Getting upstairs, we would look around and see some stuff and there were some other things on those other floors, too, and we decided to see them after seeing the Pirosmani paintings on the fourth floor. There seemed to be some other exhibitions on other floors, too, you know, so that we got pretty interested in seeing them, too. However, the very thing we wanted to see was the Pirosmani exhibition and we were headed that way, of course.

So, as you might have understood, TBC Art Gallery promotes art in Georgians and lets them visit it and see some modern art as well as the historical stuff, you know. It’s not like they are charging you for visits, I mean, it’s really free of charge going in there and that’s just something really surprising and a big deal, because people don’t go to some places like that, when they know, that they have to pay something, and well, while there are some pretty expensive museums in other countries and you may have to pay about 20 Euros in each museum and people go there and pay that amount of money and they visit not only one museum, but plenty of them, it’s just really annoying, that they don’t want to pay even 1 lari to go and visit some museums in Georgia. I’m very surprised by that, if you want to know the truth, because you should see your own culture and then go somewhere else and see theirs. You should know things about your culture and your country and everything and then go abroad and sightsee some things and compare them to your own country and stuff there,you know. It’s not that hard to do that, however, people are not interested in their stuff and they want to go somewhere and visit those popular places and take pictures and so on. They are always interested in others, let that be other countries, or people or whatever. And it usually happens  a lot and it’s not good, of course.

How to get there

Well, there are some choices of how to get to the TBC Art Gallery, however, there’s this fastest and easiest way of getting there and it’s metro , of course. The fastest way of getting around in Tbilisi is metro,if you ask me, because the traffic in the city is just crazy and there are always some traffic jams in those areas of interest and no matter which one you choose, let that be yellow bus or microbus or taxi or a car, you will still get into a traffic jam and be there for some time, while by taking metro you won’t get into any traffic jam and you will know exactly how much time you need to get from one place to another and that’s why I like metro so much, if you want to know the truth. However, it’s sad, that you can’t really get to every place by metro and there are certain stops, where you can get by it, you know.

So, if you want to get to the TBC Art Gallery and you are taking metro, you should come out on Marjanishvili metro station and then you will see this round square there and you should know, that you need to go straight, I mean, when looking just straight, you will see this street in front of you getting “up” or something like that and you should go to that street, so that you need to cross the road, which is called Aghmashenebeli street and get to that street, which is Marjanishvili street. There’s McDonald’s just across the street and you should get by it and walk on until you get to this crossing, where you will see a building in front of you, which has this sign of TBC bank and you will understand, that you are there and for that you won’t need any other public transport besides metro, you know. Well, there are some other ways of getting there by bus and car and taxi and things like that, however, I still recommend the metro , but if you want, you can always take a taxi and get there. There are some microbuses and buses going to Marjanishvili square, for example this yellow bus No.20, but I don’t really recommend getting there by buses or microbuses. I have been there with that bus once and it was pretty bad going by it, because it was already an evening and it was this rush hour and everyone was driving their cars to their homes, I guess, and it was a traffic jam, of course, and no matter how I wanted to get home quickly, I couldn’t, because there was a traffic jam, you know. So, that’s why I don’t like moving around the city with public transports and cars, because there’s always something on the road, that doesn’t let you get to your destination quickly. However, it’s just great, when you are sitting on a bus or a car and you are looking at the sites of the city and enjoying your ride, of course. It’s just really fascinating looking at all those stuff and seeing some changes or seeing something beautiful, that you hadn’t noticed until then. But when you are in a hurry or something like that, you should not take the public transport, if it’s an evening, especially, because you will be on the road for quite some time. And there’s a rush hour at noon, too, I mean, after 12 o’clock, there are these traffic jams,and, well, there are horrible traffic jams in the mornings, too, when everyone is trying to get to their work or university or school or parents are taking their children to school or kindergarten or whatever and there’s this craziness all over the city and no one can really understand what they are doing and there’s even this metro crowded in the mornings and it all depends on that exact moment, when you get in, I mean, there’s this point, when everyone goes out from their homes and gets into the metro and that’s when it’s all crowded and stuff, though you won’t really guess when it’s crowded. it may be crowded, or it may be not, but it’s still better than the above ground transport. So that, take a metro and trust me on that!

The working hours

Well, usually the TBC Art Gallery working hours are from 12:00 to 20:00 on working days and on Saturday it’s open from 12:00 to 14:00 and they don’t work on Sundays.

I remember, the Pirosmani exhibition was not from the very 12 o’clock, rather the visiting hours were from 16:00 to 20:00 and that was the time, when I had some lectures and I couldn’t find time to go there and then I saw, that they had changed the dates or extended it or something like that and I was very glad, because then I could go there on this Monday, when I didn’t have any lectures at that time and that’s when me and my cousins went there and we were very satisfied, that we went there and it was worth the time, if you want to know the truth.