UK’s Royal Academy of Arts display to feature works by Levan Songulashvili

Works by contemporary artist Levan Songulashvili will be part of a fresh display opening at London’s Royal Academy of Arts ahead of the venue’s 250th anniversary.

Songulashvili’s drawings of American rock legend Iggy Pop will be exhibited within the display From Life, set to "present contemporary work in diverse media.”

"[T]his special exhibition project takes an inquisitive look at the tradition and its ongoing relationship with artists today. From Life will trace a line from the origins of the RA in the 18th century to the present day,” said a preview of the event.

An artwork created by Songulashvili within the 'Iggy Pop Life Class'. Photo: Brooklyn Museum.

Featuring works from artists Lucian Freud, Jenny Saville, Gillian Wearing and more, the exhibition will also lend its space for creations from the Iggy Pop Life Class, the project that involved Songulashvili at the Brooklyn Museum last year.

The four portraits of Iggy Pop by Songulashvili were selected for the permanent collection of New York's Brooklyn Museum earlier this year.

The decision meant the drawings are now part of one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States, which also houses works by famous artists including Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Gauguin.

Songulashvili created the portraits within a project involving art students drawing the nude figure of Iggy Pop within an initiative conceived by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller.

Songulashvili's works were later praised by Deller as featuring "very beautiful detailing" and being "unlike any other drawings made that day.”

The pieces were also included in a book on the Life Class, published in the United Kingdom by the New York-based museum.

The Royal Academy of Arts will welcome visitors to the display From Life from December 11. The exhibition will be open at the venue through March 11, 2018.