On April 18, the personal exhibition of Levan Mosiashvili titled “Georgia in Love” opened at the National Library of the Parliament of Georgia. The painter has been working in France for the past 18 years and is one of the most successful Georgian artists in Europe. This fact was confirmed by his personal expositions held at various prestigious galleries of different countries. This is his first exhibition in his homeland.
He was born on August 30, 1971, in Tbilisi. His first serious painting was created in 1993. Looking at those marvelous, eye-catching colors and his distinguished style, it is hard to believe that Levan has no academic degree. Maybe, education has not ‘hampered’ him to feel completely free in his creative works. It is impossible to survey those pictures and not to resist the desire to re-visit the display over and over again.
At the beginning of his creative life, there were skeptics but later on, he gained fame. “Georgian Woman”, “Racha, my Love”, “Blue Sky of Abkhazia”, “Night in Svaneti”, “Capital City Tbilisi”, “Summer in Countryside”, “Georgian Dance”, “Blue Mountains of Kakheti”and other paintings won’t leave any foreigner, who has not seen Georgia, untouched by the beauty of country. As for the genres, they are diverse too. At different stages, Mosiashvili was influenced by surrealism and other directions in the art. At present, his distinctive passion is abstraction – the direction that is less linked with national theme but has opened new vista of success for the painter; his abstract works have been awarded a number of prestigious prizes.
He has two homelands – Georgia ad France. Probobly, what makes those two countries close, is wine. “I will try my best to hold such events in Georgia as I am based in France and I will not return for good, but I want to attract to art as many people as possible,” the painter said during his private talks with us. “In my technique, I use outdated oil and some remnants. On its part, Georgia is old, and my style is dictated by its antiquity. As for the things we, Georgians and French people have in common, both our people are Southerners; have a lot of common values, which helped me fall in love with that country and its culture.”
French people say that Levan Mosiashvili’s works are very popular among common people, as it always tells some stories and they “love history, love and wine” most of all. The Georgian painter’s works are kept at private collections all over the world – Georgia, France, Russia, USA, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, Belgium, United Kingdom, Brasil, Chile, Sweden, Norway, China.
Levan Mosiashvili promised to hold another exhibition in December where he will display the paintings that helped him become a renowned painter in France. He is still a real Kakhetian guy, simple fellow. He compares himself to great Pirosmani. Levan Mosiashvili regrets it was impossible to bring these works to Georgia earlier; anyway, we see that his Georgian spirit is still there and he is ready to express words of love to his motherlands by means of lexis and particularly, via his expressive artworks.