Merab Surviladze

Merab Surviladze creates the original version of abstract painting which is conceptually based on the metaphor of shadow and its artistic-philosophical reading.

Mini sculptures ‘raised’ from the canvas differ by size and scale: in some cases they resemble the groups of manikins and in other ones they are like cosmic bodies thrown away by elemental force. Chaos and spontaneous movement reveal as a principal motif expressed in various formats or intensiveness. Expressive art by Merab represents as a sort of enigma impressing viewers with its unpredictable visual and special technical manner. At a glance canvases resemble each other looking like we face different variations of one theme and later we discover elements of narration with various contents. Similar silhouettes can be perceived as a homogenous crowd only from a distance and with near approach we can distinguish them as a symbolic individual human beings transforming in identical ones only through shadow.

It seems Merab asks questions on the phenomena of shadow, its possible meanings: what happens with body when it becomes a shadow? Is it the only process of color transformation when colorful reality turns into black or grey exaggerated silhouette or shadows are just ‘demons’ expelled from inner world? Is shadow inseparable part of the body or it can be as an independent givens?

The principal impression which his works make is stills resembling diffusion of elements by elemental force through the esthetic of visual documentations of cosmic systems. In this rhetoric the artist treats endless possibilities of montage and his series indicates infinity of artistic perception and the world in whole. The montage is a crucial point in the art by Merab and with the help of it he manages to display the picture of real drama which is not easy to visualize. Synthesizing space, bodies and shadows he touches existential problems – lives  which exist in conditions of unknown regularity. Merab intends to show a space which is real but needs a special way to make it evident.