From the outskirts to the cathedral city

The contemporary art scene in Georgia would be hard to imagine without them. Founded in Tbilisi in 2018 by Lisa Offermann and her husband Nika Lelashvili, the LC Queisser gallery has since become internationally renowned thanks to its unique selling point. Cologne has also recently benefited from this rise with the establishment of a branch. ‘The gallery's programme presents both international artists and Georgian voices with the aim of building a dynamic international community and increasing the visibility of the Georgian art scene,’ says Oppermann.

Before entering the art market, the Cologne-born gallery owner completed an internship with Gavin Brown and worked in galleries in Berlin and Leipzig. Lelashvili was a mountain guide and gave up this profession in 2020 to support Offermann in growing the gallery. LC Queisser's network outside Georgia began to grow rapidly through collaborations. Offermann curated the group exhibition ‘Host’ at the Frank Elbaz Gallery in Paris with Georgian artists from Tbilisi and Paris. This was followed by exhibitions at Hollybush Gardens in London and as part of another gallery-sharing programme, Constellation Warsaw, at the Stereo Gallery.

The range of trade fair participations is also impressive. It extends from Frieze New York to ART COLOGNE and Art Basel Paris. "A key objective for us was to draw attention to the city of Tbilisi, which is often perceived as a peripheral area of the art world. However, it has long been a cultural and artistic centre in the Caucasus, and we want to emphasise this through our gallery programme and local initiatives." After opening the gallery, Offermann therefore established a residency programme that integrates artists into the local community through reading groups, university teaching and other events.

During the pandemic, she noticed the lack of art bookshops in Georgia and founded the publishing house Kona Books together with curator Nina Akhvlediani and graphic designer Dan Solbach. Starting with Alexi-Meskhishvili's Boiled Language in 2020, Kona Books has published over ten art books and, in collaboration with another local publisher, Post Press, runs the Posta da Kona bookshop on the ground floor of LC Queisser.

Last but not least, Offermann has helped raise the profile of young and old artists alike, including Tolia Astakhishvili, who won the €100,000 Chanel Next Prize in 2024, and Elene Chantladze, the almost 80-year-old self-taught painter to whom she dedicated a solo stand at Art Basel in Paris. Since May 2025, the gallery has been operating a second location at Sankt-Apern-Straße 13. ‘We are delighted to be expanding our reach to Cologne,’ says Offermann about her hometown. ‘This city has always been the city we had in mind for our expansion because of the broad institutional landscape in the Rhineland – something we sorely lacked in Georgia and the surrounding region.’

At ART COLOGNE, LC Queisser will present a group exhibition featuring paintings by Anton Munar, born in 1997, among others. Munar, who commutes between Copenhagen and Mallorca, succeeds in creating a poetic, melancholic atmosphere with his figurative painting, which takes up timeless themes.

The Josey Gallery, founded in 2019 in Norwich, England, also moved to Cologne in December 2024, setting up shop at Gladbacher Straße 25, because its operators, Benjamin Brett and Jonathan P. Watts, are aware of the region's strengths and have chosen it as a fitting springboard for young British artists. ‘Cologne and the Rhineland have a long tradition of contemporary art. Cologne has some very interesting historical spaces whose archives are still valued and influence alternative spaces and programme approaches,’ says Brett. ‘The city is also conveniently located near Paris and Brussels, with connections to London. There are many good museums and public institutions here.’

Josey began in Norwich, where curator Lynda Morris had made an important contribution to the development of contemporary art in the UK by organising EASTinternational, an annual exhibition held in Norwich from 1991 to 2009. It was an artist-run space and the programme was always characterised by dialogue between the artists. ‘It's important to maintain that spirit,’ Brett believes. ‘Intensive exchange is essential for the realisation of an exhibition. For example, Terry Atkinson's first show in 2021 came about as a result of a long correspondence. This ultimately led to a publication and an artist talk between Terry Atkinson, who was a co-founder of the artist group Art & Language, and historian TJ Clark. Underrepresented artistic positions are also a recurring theme.’

Josey is currently dedicating a solo exhibition in Cologne to British artist Terry Atkinson, illustrating his critical examination of the conditions of artistic production and subjectivity in the age of modernism and conceptualism. On display are wall works from the early 1990s series ‘Grease Works,’ which draw on the formal language of Abstract Expressionism, as well as a selection from two more recent series of drawings: ‘American Civil War 2 + Curtis LeMay’ (2018–ongoing) and ‘Frontispiece’ (2025).