Daushvili began painting in 2003 but only committed to it full-time after fleeing Tbilisi for the UK, initially taking portrait commissions via social media. Now, he draws inspiration from friends, family, the light in his Kensington studio, and passersby outside his window. He reduces his compositions to their barest traces, using a somber, economical palette that evokes displacement, otherness, and longing. “My paintings are precisely what they represent,” he says. “They come from my stream of consciousness with no particular origin or special interest, and my practice is about capturing the moment when these mundane subjects become special to me. I see no reason to speak of my personal life or anything beyond what you see in my paintings, so I don’t give interviews. If you find something in them that becomes special to you, we have already spoken.”
