Dideba is a master of figurative and abstract. He paints in the same imprimatura technique used by Leonardo da Vinci, giving his works an inner glow. His work was shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition.

The art of Mamuka Dideba is a unique expression of the wonder, subtle humour, and the often surreal and warm philosophical outlook that is quintessential of the wondrous country of Georgia where he lives and works.

A rare master of the figurative and the abstract, Dideba paints in exquisite Renaissance imprimatura technique that lights up the canvas from within and requires enormous skill and patience.

Inspired by the Old Masters, Dideba creates nuanced characters who seem to walk off the canvas while remaining fixed in their own world, at an indeterminate time and place. Dideba completes a painting only when he senses the figure is alive, as if about to start a conversation.

Altering the figure away from classical proportions, he highlights the essential character with gentle humour and dignity. All of his personages have one irresistible thing in common: no matter whether serious, playful or surreal, they are all kind.

Dideba alternates between figurative and abstracted works, each of which taps into a different part of him. Of his abstracted paintings, he says that they are a practice in “absolute freedom”. There, he creates an enchanting melody of colour that lures us inside a richly contemplative world.

Born in 1968 in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, Dideba studied at the prestigious Nikoladze School of Art and the Tbilisi State Art Academy. Dideba is known as “Georgia's Bruegel” because of his deviation from realistic proportions and interest in human behaviour. Widely exhibited internationally, Dideba’s work was shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition. His first solo exhibition in London was with Katrine Levin Galleries at Shapero Modern in Mayfair, in 2019.