Featured Help/thoughts on Russian(?) painting found in thrift store today?

I found this today (38 degrees today but I still left at 6:45am - wearing 3 sweatshirts & my wool pajama pants under my jeans to see what new stuff came off the trucks today!) at my local thrift store.
It is actually ...richer looking - than these pics taken with my phone.
I think it's Russian, but if it is the writing looks like Crylic done in script?
Can anyone tell who the artist is?
Thoughts on painting?
Thank you!
PS - I also got a big, beautiful brass antelope head that I think may be mcm - but my phone's storage is full and I have to go through photos & decide what to delete - I'll post a pic afterwards.

 

Looks like a little shtetl scene from one of Isaac Bashevic Singer's stories-not bad,has an illustrative quality. So you think this is oil,acrylic ?
My Sis-In Law said Orlando was freezing a few days ago.
Someone here is an Eastern European language expert & can help translate,hmmm?

 

My girlfriend said it looked 'wet' 0 here's a couple of close ups; some palette style?

 

shiny paint acrylic?

 

either oil or acrylic w/ lots of gel.Journey-what would you do if you found say a 5 million dollar painting ?

PS-I think you'd keep looking cause you love art,but would you hit some online auctions,travel & do a little picking in Europe,the West Coast ?

 

That first word on the sign is Tavern in Russian.
So yes Russian.
Mikey

 

Now I want to watch Doctor Zhivago !

 

Definitely love to pick Europe!

 

Picking Europe & all the time in the world !

 

Do you think it's by Vaja Meskhi? I googled him but couldn't make out signature to match when I enlarged photos of his work

 

It is not Russian, it is Georgian, could be indeed Vaja Meskhi or someone imitating him (I am not an expert in paintings). Now independent Georgia (not the USA state of the same name but a Caucasus country with rich history) was part of the Russian empire and consequently of its successor USSR, so the inscriptions were made in both Russian and Georgian. The inscription in Russian says "inn", i.e. a hotel with a restaurant, below it there is an inscription in Georgian which I can't read, suppose it says the same.
The inscription on the back is entirely in Georgian script, there are two years though, 1955 and 1989 which for me is a sign it is not that old, most probably after the collapse of USSR /1990/, from the independence period of Georgia.
Here there are more paintings of this author, you can try and match the signature.
https://vk.com/@-147970344-hudozhnik-vazha-meshi-kogda-derevya-byli-bolshimi
After some research, IMO this is his signature, and the inscription on the back starts with his name in Georgian, explaining that he was born in 1955 (a fact), probably some more fact of his biography, then the name of the painting, and then that it was painted in 1989, and then the dimensions of the painting.

Vaja Meskhi was born in Tbilisi in 1955 and graduated from Tbilisi Academy of Arts in 1985, then became a member of the Union of Artists of USSR. Paints nostalgic scenes from old pre-revolutionary Tbilisi. Some sources say now he lives in Israel.

 

Thank you - Best Christmas gift!

 

There is 1 on invaluable but they call him Vaja Meshi
Signature looks the same!!

Sold Price: Vaja Meshi b.1955 (Georgian) Old Tiflis oil on board - January 3, 0117 7:00 PM EET (invaluable.com)

 

IMO, it can be transliterated also as Meshi. I don,t have access to invaluable, restricted content, but from the research I did, there is a big chance yours is indeed his work. Very big chance.
Another site with many works of Meskhi, signature looks the same as on your painting.
http://svistanet.com/hudozhniki-i-a...s/v-starom-tbilisi-xudozhnik-vazha-mesxi.html

 

Great find, journey!

That makes sense. I thought the houses looked kind of Turkish, and Georgia and Turkey are neighbours.

 

Would that be like Mes-hi, with an aspirated h? Not an sh-sound as in mashed potatoes?

 

Yes, you are right, it is not sh, one sound, it is s and h, two different sounds. Actually this is the reason to put this k in the first spelling, to distinguish from the sh sound.
Also Vaja is a bit strange transliteration, IMO it shold be Vazha, as his name in Cyrillic is Важа and ж is usually written in Latin as zh. I first thought his name is Вая, as the Latin ja is used for the Cyrillic я sound. And initially I could not find info in Russian about him. Важа Месхи is his name in Cyrillic.

 

Journey-Did you find out how much his paintings sell for ?

 

It is difficult in English, because it doesn't have that specific sound.
I think in Dutch it could be transliterated to Meschi, our ch is a sound made in the back of the throat.