Biography
Giorgi Mkurnalidze-Cornaro
Giorgi Mkurnalidze-Cornaro is a contemporary artist whose practice spans painting, drawing and mixed media. His work has been shown in private galleries and institutional contexts across Europe.
Working primarily in series, his paintings investigate the slow accumulation of memory and the quiet weight of material. Surfaces are built up over months — layered, scraped back, and re-entered — until a single resolved image emerges.
He lives and works between his studio in Tbilisi and Northern Italy.
Artist Statement
"I work slowly, in series. Each painting is a long conversation with the surface — an attempt to give silence a shape it can hold."
Timeline
1965
Born in Tbilisi, Georgia.
1989
Graduates from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts.
1997
First solo exhibition, Tbilisi.
2004
Begins long-term residency in Northern Italy.
2012
Adopts the Cornaro name in honour of his Venetian family line.
2018
Major survey exhibition, Verona.
2024
Begins the Silentium series.
Selected Exhibitions
- 2024Silentium — Studio works, Verona
- 2022Surfaces, Galleria San Marco, Venice
- 2018Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, Tbilisi
- 2015Group exhibition, Berlin
- 2009Solo exhibition, Milan
Awards & Recognition
- 2020Cornaro Prize for Painting
- 2011National Recognition, Republic of Georgia