Levan Kharanauli was born in Tbilisi on 29 September 1963. In 1986, he graduated from the Faculty of Painting at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, where he studied in the studio of Parnaoz Lapiashvili. He is a painter, graphic artist, and book designer whose work focuses on portraiture, landscapes of his native region, and book illustration.
Kharanauli has participated in group exhibitions since 1983. His solo exhibitions have been held at the Tianeti Museum of Local History, the Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts, and the Giorgi Leonidze State Museum of Georgian Literature, as well as at Tbilisi’s TMS and Old Gallery. His works have also been exhibited in Nantes, Paris, and Bologna. In 2023, the Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery of Georgia hosted a solo exhibition of his work.
Book illustration occupies a prominent place in Kharanauli’s artistic practice. He has illustrated poetry collections by his father, the poet Besik Kharanauli, as well as Sanata’s Book by Mariam Khutsurauli and Goderdzi Chokheli’s prose collection From the Twilight Valley to the Sky. In 2007, he received the GALA Literary Award for his illustrations for an adapted edition of Don Quixote for children. In 1988, he played the leading role in Goderdzi Chokheli’s film The Easter Lamb.
The principal themes of Kharanauli’s paintings are portraiture, landscapes of his native Tianeti, and still lifes. His subjects often include himself, his family members, and his friends. Everyday surroundings and familiar people become carriers of personal experience and memory. In his still lifes, ordinary objects—glasses, children’s shoes, and other household items—become representations of family life and preserve its stories. In this way, his work brings together the intimate world of family and a strong sense of place.
Kharanauli’s works are held in private collections in Georgia, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and Luxembourg. His work forms part of contemporary Georgian visual art, in which personal experience, family memory, and the native landscape serve as important sources of artistic expression. He lives and works in Tianeti with his family.
