Levan Songulashvili

Levan Songulashvili (Georgian: ლევან სონღულაშვილი; born August 17, 1991) is a Georgian visual artist. He lives in New York City.

Biography

Songulashvili was born in Tbilisi, on August 17, 1991.

Songulashvili has had several solo exhibitions. He participated in many group, local and international art shows and festivals; he has received a number of awards.^[1]

In 2008, Songulashvili has been rewarded for various achievements in arts by the President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.^{[2] [3]}

In 2010, The Minister of Education and Science of Georgia awarded the artist.^[4]

In 2013, after graduating from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, Levan won a scholarship award from the Education and Science Ministry of Georgia and Academy Scholar Merit award. In 2014, he left for the USA, where he is doing his master's at the New York Academy of Art.^[5][6] In 2015, Levan won the Portrait Scholarship Award.^[7] In same year, he became a winner of the International Education Center's award.^{[8][9][10][11][12] [13][14]}

On September 25, 2016, Levan Songulashvili was awarded by New York State Assembly and creative company STVR for his achievements and contribution in arts. ^[15][16][17]

In the summer of 2015, Songulashvili received an offer of employment in Jeff Koons's Manhattan Studio.^[18][19][20]

On April 13, 2015, Songulashvili's paintings were shown at Tribeca Ball 2015, in New York City.^[21] Among the honorary guests, visiting Levan's studio, was Brooke Shields. She wished to buy the work that had been bought by an American art collector a couple of minutes before her arrival.^{[5][22][23][24] [25]}

On May 19, 2016, Creative pieces by Levan Songulashvili have been selected for display alongside 1,000 other works by artists from 30 countries at the contemporary global art fair Art16, held in London, UK. ^[26] After Songulashvili’s success at Art 16, a Belgian art blog The Art Couch published an article about Levan entitled "Existentialism in painting, discover the art of Levan Songulashvili" ("Existentialisme in de schilderkunst, ontdek de kunst van Levan Songulashvili"), where Songulashvili was distinguished among presented artists. According to the article, Songulashvili is a new discovery who deserves special attention from critics, artists and other parts of the society. ^{[27][28][29][30][31]}

On August 13, 2016, at Manhattan based Paul Booth Gallery, a one-month-long exhibition called The Fourth Wall took place, where Levan Songulashvili's piece was exhibited among 15 international artists, including Odd Nerdrum. According to the curators of the show, Songulashvili was the youngest among them and one of the most important ones. ^[32][33][34]

On September 15, 2016, Songulashvili’s works were presented and praised at London’s Saatchi Gallery at START art fair, organized by Parallel Contemporary Art and Saatchi Gallery. ^[35][36][37]

Songulashvili has achieved success in different fields of art. He writes psychological prose, essays, verses and plays the piano.^[38]

Songulashvili's works are kept in Brooklyn Museum and a number of private collections. ^{[5][39][22][40][5][39][41][42][43][5][39][22][44][5][39][45][46][47]}

Nominations

On December 31, 2015 Songulashvili was nominated for "The Best Artist Of The Year" in the Georgian Public Broadcaster's awards.^[48][49]

"Take Home a Nude"at Sotheby's

On October 24, 2016, Songulashvili’s painting ‘The Nun’ (2012) was exhibited and sold at "Take Home a Nude" auction, an iconic New York City event^[50] and fundraising auction for the New York Academy of Art, at Sotheby's Auction House in New York. The piece was purchased by an American art collector. Levan's work was displayed alongside celebrated Serbian performance artist Marina Abramović, French photographer Patrick Demarchelier, American painter Nicole Eisenman and photographer David Levinthal, among others.^{[51][52][53][54][55][56]}

On October 15, 2015, Songulashvili's ‘The Jellyfish’ was also purchased by a collector from New York. Songulashvili painted it when he was 22 years old and living in Tbilisi. ^{[57][58][59][60]}

Iggy Pop by Levan at the Brooklyn Museum

On November 3, 2016, The New York Times published Iggy Pop portraits by Levan Songulashvili from the Brooklyn Museum collection.^{[61] [62]} The American legend and pioneer of rock music was a model and subject of a unique performative project "Iggy Pop Life Class", organized by the Brooklyn Museum and conceived by Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller. The 21 participant artists were selected by Deller and Sharon Matt Atkins, Vice Director, Exhibitions and Collections Management, Brooklyn Museum. Songulashvili created four drawings, ranging from five-minute sketches to studies to presentation artwork, on February 21, 2016, during a one-day life drawing class.^[63][64]

On November 4, 2016, the resulting drawings were exhibited among the works by Egon Schiele, Max Beckmann, Daniel Huntington, Albrecht Dürer; the photos by Eadweard Muybridge, Horace Bristol, Robert Mapplethorpe, John Coplans; as well as the sculptures of Ancient Egypt, Africa, India, Japan and Mexico, that depict the male body, examining shifting representations of masculinity throughout history. The accompanying book published by the Brooklyn Museum in association with Heni Publishing, London.^{[65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72]}

References