by George Wiley
His name is Beso Kazaishvili, but in the international art world, where he is a luminary, this 13-year-old boy goes simply by the name 'Beso.' That just happens to rhyme with 'peso,' of which Beso has been making a lot lately.
At a recent art exhibit in Beverly Hills, this young Russian expatriate's paintings were selling for as much as $20,000. Some of his paintings, Beso can complete in a single day. He insists that he only paints when inspired and that no pressures are being placed on him to paint, despite the money involved.
Except for his painting, Beso speaks of himself as an ordinary 13-year-old, growing up in Torrance on the cusp of Redondo Beach. He is an 8th grader at Calle Mayor middle school in Torrance, who loves baseball and considers himself a pretty good first or second baseman.
Beso's father, Badri, a construction engineer from the former Soviet province of Georgia, is an easygoing man who is studying English at El Camino College. It is because Badri Kazaishvili is studying at the college that it is hosting a collection of Beso's paintings and drawings next week. The exhibit is a major fund raising event for the college and its Division of Instructional Services and Language Academy.
Beso's emergence as something of a child prodigy began about nine years ago. He was four and the civil war in which Georgia would win its independence from Russia was underway. During the height of the war, Beso told his parents that he had had a dream that he must become a painter. Now Beso says he can't remember much about it except that he awoke from the dream knowing that he had to paint.
When his parents provided him with simple art supplies, Beso began to paint what his family considered to be remarkable pictures. One of the first was called "The Cosmos Are Crying," and it depicted the pain and sorrow of people fighting and killing. Beso's next work he called "Four Points of Light" and it contained, said Beso to his mother, Irma, images of goodness.
When art supplies in war-torn Georgia grew scarce, Beso drew on paper with the tips of burnt matchsticks. But he kept drawing and drawing and painting and painting. Beso's three brothers and one sister also exhibited talent in various art forms. But Beso's intensity and the concentration with which he worked were clearly different.
One day, so the story goes, Beso told his mother that he wanted to help people understand peace through his artwork. Irma Kazaishvili began to keep a library of her son's artwork, with a description of each image and the story that Beso told her was behind each one.
As Beso's fame grew and spread beyond his home village of Kutaisi, he announced that he had launched a major project. He was going to paint a collection of world peace pictures. One painting for each of the world's 265 countries.
That's a big job for any 13-year-old, even one as talented and driven as Beso. Even he isn't really sure how close he is to completing his series.
He's more captivated by his style. "My style is always changing," he says with professional seriousness. He loves to draw with pen and ink on paper. When he paints he uses acrylics on canvas. Acrylics dry quickly so that he can continue working before he loses concentration.
He works in a room in his house set aside for that purpose. He won't call it a studio, just a room. His paintings show an obvious debt to Picasso in their constancy of eyes, and perhaps a touch of Salvador Dali's surrealism. Beso likes Dali and has done works in homage to him, but Beso, who is self-taught, doesn't have much interest in art school. He says he doesn't go to art museums. He just paints and paints more - not knowing himself what will spring up next on the canvas. Painting is his mission.
The mission of those around Beso is different. There isn't a L.A. network affiliate on which he hasn't done an appearance. He's had audiences with Margaret Thatcher, George Bush, and Bill Clinton. He's received the keys to dozens of cities. Crowds of a hundred thousand have hailed him for his message of world peace. He's signed autographs by the thousands.
Does he ever get tired of it? "Sometimes, yes," he says. "People ask the same questions."
But Beso also clearly enjoys the attention. He likes being Beso. He wants someday to have his own private museum. But ask him where he sees himself five years from now and he simply says, "I don't know. I will still be painting."
Beso's paintings will go on view January 19. His works will hang in the Schauerman Library at El Camino College, located at 16007 Crenshaw Boulevard in Torrance and will remain on display through Feb. 29.ER