Sculptor, painter, graphic artist, People’s Artist of Georgia. Irakli Ochiauri graduated from the Tbilisi Academy of Art under the guidance of Jacob Nikoladze in 1951. His diploma work was “Vaja Pshavela.” He participated in exhibitions since 1953, and in the same year, joined the Georgian Union of Artists.
The name of Irakli Ochiauri is associated with the revival of the Georgian tradition of metal embossing, which ceased to exist in the second half of the 19th century with the death of the master Pepu Meunargia and by the 50s of the 20th century had already been forgotten completely.
Irakli Ochiauri worked in a variety of genres, making embossed works in different formats: miniatures and panels for interiors and exteriors. Together with his brother, the sculptor Gogi Ochiauri, he decorated the Tbilisi Wedding House with reliefs. Gogi Ochiauri sculpted the exterior reliefs while Irakli Ochiaui made embossed panels for the interior space.
The sculptor worked in brass, aluminum and copper materials.
Apart from the field of embossing he worked in the realm of both monumental sculpture and portraiture. His notable works are the monuments to Alexandre Kazbegi (1959, Stepantsminda), and Vazha-Pshavela (1985, Dusheti), “Portrait of Vaja-Pshavela” (Moscow, Tretyakov Gallery) and “Portrait of Engineer Irine Jandieri” (Art Museum of Georgia).
Irakli Ochiauri participated in many local and international exhibitions, the world exhibitions of Montreal (1969) and Osaka (1972) as well as the Venice Biennale are among them.
Irakli Ochiauri’s works are preserved in the Art Museum of Georgia, Tretyakov Gallery, Seattle Art Museum and private collections in Japan, USA and many other countries.
