Sculptor and painter Irina Merabishvili-Shanshiashvili was born in Tbilisi in 1948. In 1972 she graduated from the Vano Sarajishvili Tbilisi Conservatory, where she studied in piano class. In parallel with music, she studied sculpture, painting, and art history at the art faculty of Tbilisi State University. After graduating from the university, she participated in exhibitions of fine arts; starting in 1970, she published a number of articles about art in newspapers and magazines: Samshoblo (Homeland), Droni (Times), Republic of Georgia, Literaturuli Sakartvelo (Literaty Georgia), Freska (Fresco), Khelovneba (Art), and Matsne (Herald).
In 1973-1993, Irina Merabishvili-Shanshiashvili regularly took part in Autumn, Spring and national exhibitions of Georgian artists. Along with this, her works were presented at various juried art exhibitions for the selection of sketches of monuments and memorials. Among them are the competitions for Didgori monument (statue of David Agmashenebeli), Mirzaani (statue of Niko Firosmani), as well as other sculpture competitions.
In 2005, a sketch of her was presented at the juried art exhibition for the project of the Rustaveli monument in Kyiv.
In 1990, Irine Merabishvili became a member of the Association of Avant-Garde and Free Artists of Georgia. Among the international exhibitions held with the participation of the artist, the following shows should be noted: The group exhibition in Vilnius in 1984, the first Group exhibition of Georgian artists at the Congress Center Montreux, Switzerland in 1990, The Exhibitions of Georgian Avant-garde and Independent artists in Tbilisi held in Art Gallery in 1991-1993, as well as The Exhibitions of Emigrant Artists in Toronto, 2001-2003.
The works of Irina Merebishvili-Shanshiashvili are kept in the Art Gallery of Georgia, the Tbilisi House of Artists, the Tbilisi House-Museum of Ilia Chavchavadze, the Tbilisi State University named after Ivane Javakhishvili, the Patriarchy of Georgia and in private collections in Georgia, Russia, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Canada and Switzerland.
Contact information: Tbilisi, st. Brothers Zubalashvili, 27/9. (+ 995) 570 90 13 54;
(+ 995) 322 99 59 35
