Andro Semeiko was born in Ozurgeti, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union (now Georgia) in 1975. He was educated in Georgia but immigrated to London in 2000 to further his education in the arts. His paintings and installations explore themes of history, art history, literature and psychology.
Artist Andro Semeiko was born in 1975 in Ozurgeti, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union (now Georgia). Semeiko's formal art education began at the Tbilisi State Academy of Art in Georgia, where he studied from 1992 to 1998. Pursuing further artistic training, he attended Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands from 1998 to 2000, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. Semeiko immigrated to London in 2000 to continue his education in the arts and to establish his practice. He subsequently completed his MA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, University of London, in 2001, followed by a second postgraduate degree at the Royal Academy Schools, graduating in 2006.
Semeiko is a multidisciplinary artist who integrates various artistic and research disciplines to explore themes of psychology, history, art history and literature. His oeuvre predominantly encompasses paintings and multilayered art installations, referred to as ‘expanded paintings’, that draw upon his background as a professional painter and his research into history and literature. His paintings blend surreal figuration with baroque and sci-fi elements, creating an uncanny hybrid of historical costume and futurist fantasy. Armour, often viewed as a symbol of masculinity and power, becomes a vehicle for absurdity and humour, frequently offset by swirling, impasto-like gestures where faces should be. The works display a highly polished, hyperreal surface, punctuated by expressive distortions and painterly excess. His installations reimagine the gallery space as a playful, architectonic environment, where paintings and drawings are activated through sculptural display structures that blur the line between artwork and support. Using bold colours, geometric forms, and off-kilter assemblage, the installations invite viewers to navigate visual art as an immersive, spatial experience, rather than a purely frontal one. Two main sources of inspiration in Semeiko’s art can be traced to Georgian cultural heritage, particularly poetry and calligraphy, and the socio-political turmoil of the country at the cusp of its independence. His use of the Georgian alphabet, inspired by Georgian poetry, is unsurprising; however, its interpretation varies depending on the viewer’s familiarity with the language—some see it as abstract forms, others as legible script. The artist’s oeuvre is often regarded as a symbiosis between his native background and various Western sources - such as Marcel Duchamp. In addition to its physical qualities, Semeiko’s work frequently involves collaborations with professionals from diverse fields, including writers, historians, architects, engineers, astrologers, psychologists, dancers, and fellow artists.
As a student, in 2001 Semeiko was selected for the annual New Contemporaries at Camden Arts Centre. Subsequently, his art art has been exhibited internationally, with shows in the UK, USA, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Georgia, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany, Mexico, and beyond. Significant exhibitions include: An Artist’s Workshop for Unveiling Emotions at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle upon Tyne (2013), where he deconstructed and reimagined the art-making process; Nostalgia for the Future in collaboration with Yu-Chen Wang at Taipei Fine Art Museum (2016), which explored the tension between past ideals and future aspirations; Nature Morte at London's Guildhall Art Gallery (2017–18), a group exhibition examining contemporary interpretations of still life; Polka Dots and Curls at Narrative Projects, London (2018–19), which presented a series of paintings inspired by two literary icons, the Georgian poet, Vazha-Pshavela and Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas, combined with the cosmic imagery of dissident Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky; and Unveiling Vazha Pshavela at Asia House, London (2019), a collaboration with writer Ana Kordzaia-Samadashvili and fashion designer Manana Antelidze, reinterpreting the works of the Georgian poet Vazha-Pshavela. His 2024 exhibition, Andro Semeiko: On the Verge at London’s postROOM Gallery, consisted of a series of hollow, knight-like figures transformed into satirical and surrealist paintings, utilising irony and humour to question contemporary masculinity. The works situate these issues within the broader context of a world shaped by media saturation, technological upheaval, environmental crisis, and geopolitical unrest. Combining varied approaches, from flat abstract colour fields to intricate realism, and smooth surfaces to heavy textures, the paintings form layered, collage-like compositions which are both comical and disquieting. In the same year Semeiko presented How We Are Where We Are in collaboration with Yu-Chen Wang at Tate Modern.
Semeiko has received several residencies and fellowships throughout his career. In 2009, he was awarded the Berwick Gymnasium Fellowship, where he engaged with the local community in Berwick-upon-Tweed, UK, creating site-specific works that reflected the town’s cultural and historical context on the border between England and Scotland. In 2011 he received the Jessica Wilkes Studio Award from ACME. Two years later, during his PEER Residency in 2013, he developed The Holy Triangle, a project that combined visual art with literary narratives, resulting in an artist’s book produced in collaboration with writers, Sally O’Reilly and Zinovy Zinik. In 2022, he was awarded the Abbey Fellowship in Painting at the British School at Rome, which influenced subsequent works that intertwine classical references with contemporary themes. Andro Semeiko lives and works in London. His works are not part of any public collection in the UK.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [ Andro Semeiko]
Publications related to [ Andro Semeiko] in the Ben Uri Library