Leri Chanturia (1948-) is a renowned Georgian artist. He studied Monumental Art (1965-1970) at Georgia’s National Academy of Fine Arts in Tbilisi, Georgia. In the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, abstract art was disapproved by the authorities. Consequently, its representatives had no access to galleries and public exhibitions.
For a short period following the Russian revolution (1918-1921), Georgia was an independent state. During that period it was possible for some Georgian artists to travel to Western Europe and study modernism, primarily in Paris. Thanks to this brief opening, Georgia’s artists came in direct contact with modern European art before the Soviet rulers isolated them from the rest of the world.
Abstract art was officially forbidden throughout the Soviet period. Nonetheless, there were artists who dared to remain true to their artistic ideals. Leri Chanturia is one such artist: he has remained true to his art form and refused to adapt in order to exhibit or sell his paintings.
Today, Georgia is an independent state, where all art forms are permitted and promoted. No form is favoured over another.
L.T.’s source of inspiration is partly Russian avant-garde, but one finds abstract forms, too, such the geometric, expressionistic, and fauvistic. He also works with abstract sculpture and pencil drawings. In 1996, the Georgian state rewarded his efforts towards the development of modern art with a special prize, and in 1997 he received the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (USA) award – the only abstract painter from the former Soviet Union to be honoured with this award.
L.T. is a member of the International Sculpture Center (USA).
L.T. has held several international exhibitions:
Falsterbo Konsthall, Sweden 1994
Konsthall Bryggeriet, Trelleborg, Sweden 1997
Galleri Trappan, Stockholm 2008
Jäger & Jansson Gallery, Lund 2013
Kiev Art Week, Ukraine 2018,
