1934 - 2025

He was born on January 4, 1934 in Tiflis (now Tbilisi). In 1958, he graduated from the Painting Faculty of the Tbilisi Academy of Arts and joined the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Georgian Academy of Sciences. In 1963-1964, he worked as a senior foreman at the design workshop of the Tbilisi Art and Production Combine of the Art Fund of Georgia. He became the artistic director and chairman of the monumental section of the Union of Artists of Georgia. In 1964, he studied in France, where he communicated with Marc Chagall and visited the workshop of Pablo Picasso. Since the late 1960s, he began to work actively in the field of monumental art. In addition to Russia, his sculptural works are located in Brazil, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, USA, France, Japan, Georgia, Belarus and Lithuania. In 1980, he was appointed chief artist of the XXII Olympic Games in Moscow. In 1981-1982, he became the Artistic Director of the Monumental and Decorative Arts of the Art Foundation of Georgia. He was appointed head of the creative workshop of monumental art of the USSR Academy of Arts in Tbilisi. Since 1985, he has been the Head of the Department of Monumental and Decorative Arts at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts. In 1988, he was elected a full member (academician) of the USSR Academy of Fine Arts, in 1990 — Academician-Secretary of the Design Department of the USSR Academy of Arts. In 1987, he was elected Chairman of the Union of Designers of Georgia. In 1992, he became President of the Moscow International Fund for UNESCO. In the same year, he was appointed head of the creative design workshop of the Russian Academy of Arts. In 1996, he was elected a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Since 1997, he has been President of the Russian Academy of Arts. Since 1999, he has been the founder and director of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art.