Kakabadze's works are notable for combining innovative interpretation of European "Leftist" art with Georgian national traditions, on which he was an expert.

Kakabadze was born into a poor peasant family in the village of Kukhi near the town of Khoni.

The cycle of landscapes reproducing the nature of Kakabadze's native province of Imereti is some of the most interesting of his early works.

He lectured on various aspects of visual arts in Paris and, developing his interest in kinetic form, in 1923 he constructed a film camera that produced the illusion of relief and thus became one of the pioneers of three-dimensional cinema.

[1] Kakabadze became a professor at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 1928, but came under pressure from Soviet authorities for "failure" to abandon Formalism and adapt to the dogmas of Social realism.