Irakli Ochiauri (Tbilisi, 1924 - 2015) was a Georgian sculptor and painter, and one of the most recognized figures in his country's art in the second half of the 20th century. He was awarded the Shota Rustaveli State Prize, Georgia's highest honor in art and literature.
He studied from 1945 to 1951 at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, in the sculpture faculty, first under Silovan Kakabadze and then under Iakob Nikoladze. His dissertation was devoted to Vazha Pshavela. He began exhibiting in 1953, the year a portrait of Marine Kubaneishvili drew attention when shown in Moscow, which earned him membership in the Union of Soviet Artists. That same year he presented his first embossed work, a portrait of Iakob Nikoladze, regarded as the starting point of a new Georgian art of repoussé.
Between 1952 and 1962 he worked largely alone on renewing repoussé, while keeping up sculpture: his works include the pearl divers sculpture in Pitsunda and bronze monuments to Alexandre Kazbegi in Kazbegi and to Vazha Pshavela in Dusheti. He also worked in graphic arts and painting. He was a People's Artist of Georgia and a professor at the Georgian Polytechnic University. He took part in the world exhibitions in Montreal and Osaka, and held solo shows in Norway, Austria, both Germanies of the time, Syria, Belgium, Jordan and Japan.