The Nun Drawing

LEVAN SONGULASHVILI (b. Aug. 17, 1991) is a Georgian-born New York-based visual artist. Songulashvili began painting since he was a small child and received professional training in his hometown, Tbilisi, during his teen years. At the age of 19, after the artist’s solo show in Georgia, he was invited to Germany as part of the visual art project. The western culture, German and French philosophy and psychoanalysis has influenced the young artist’s world view, and he proceeded to new creative experiments and conceptual research on his return to Georgia. In 2013, Songulashvili graduated from The Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, with a Bachelor’s degree in Drawing and Printmaking. Afterwards he won several merit scholarships and art prizes and became the first Georgian artist who earned his Master's (M.F.A.) degree from The New York Academy of Art (founded by Andy Worhol) in Painting.

In 2016, Songulashvili’s works were selected for the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Museum, NY. He has received a number of national and international awards, including The President’s award, The Prime- Minister's award, and the New York State assembly award for Achievements and Contribution to the Arts. Songulashvili have collaborated with Turner Prize-winning artist - Jeremy Deller, American rock musician - Iggy Pop, Japanese fashion designer - Issey Miyake; work has been exhibited alongside pieces by Egon Schiele, Jean- Michel Basquiat, Marina Abramović, Spencer Tunick, Yoko Ono, Odd Nerdrum, among others. Songulashvili's recent monograph of his artwork "The STYX" co-authored by Mark Gisbourne, former President of the British Art Critics Association, and published by ERTI Gallery, was shortlisted and presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2018. The idea of mutability and possession of an independent sense of emergent identity is of great concern to Songulashvili, particularly as it relates to the recent re-emergence of Georgia as an independent and autonomous state in 1991 — the year of the artist's birth. Levan Songulashvili explains his work by saying, "I care about the mysteries of Life, its origins, its endless cycles and regenerations and I question the current civilization in which we find ourselves and wonder: what will be the future of Humankind? What is problematic for scientists is fascinating for me.”