Rafael Megall
After representing the Republic of Armenia at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017, Rafael Megall (born Rafael Melikyan in Yerevan in 1983) returns to exhibit in Venice at the InParadiso Art Gallery, from 30 August to 2 November 2022. Promoted by the European Council of Art and curated by Demetrio Paparoni, the exhibition includes works from the cycle The Panthers In My Blossoming Garden and the more recent Porcelain Idols, as well as some works created specifically for the occasion.
In the paintings of the first cycle, aggressive felines camouflage themselves among flowers and plants in a pictorial pattern in which abstract forms intertwine that recall the decorations of the khachkars, the stone blocks with crosses carved in high relief, made in Armenia starting from the 9th century and imbued with Christian religious symbolism. Megall’s personal and original interpretation of this interweaving of leaves, flowers, fruits and abstract designs constitutes one of the distinctive features of his work, while the aggressiveness of the panthers that venture into the artist’s home garden are an explicit reference to the history of Armenia, to the persecutions suffered by its people and to the genocide of which the country was a victim between 1915 and 1917.
In the paintings of the second cycle, instead, we witness the narration of the conflict for the control of the region of Nagorno Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijani territory: yet another war that sees the Armenian territory under continuous attack. This narration is intertwined with the theme of the consequences of the dissolution of the Soviet Union: the fragments of porcelain and ceramics depicted in his paintings were once very common in the homes of those countries that were part of the Soviet Union, from which Armenia gained independence in 1991. Lev Tolstoy also appears in his paintings, whose portrait sometimes becomes one with the head of a panther.
Are There Mangy Cats in Eden? – a work that takes center stage in this exhibition – is a large triptych presented last year at the MoMA in Moscow and the Building Gallery in Milan. In this extraordinary painting, a luxuriant nature intertwines with the Armenian decorations typical of Megall’s work, while on the left we recognize, painted with a super realistic technique, a porcelain from the Soviet period. At first glance, it seems that everything in the painting is perfect, almost as if it were a representation of Eden. But the first impression of an image of pristine beauty soon fades away. In the unfinished nature of some parts of the painting, an idea of corruption of nature insinuates itself, as corrupted is the beauty of the porcelain, wounded, not whole.
Date
InParadiso Art Gallery, 30 agosto - 2 novembre 2022
Press review
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