Mariam Aqubardia

Painted Walls Create an Illusion of reality

15/09/2022 -15/10/2022

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The Why Not Gallery is glad to present young painter, Mariam Aqubardia’s second solo show ‘Painted Walls create an illusion of Reality’.

 

The series on display is executed in Mariam’s signature painting style: in a pastel color palette, at the intersection of photographic realism and abstract painting, large-scale figurative compositions painted with the technique of blurring, emerge from the vortex of timelessness. The presented paintings seem to be an illustration of the memories stuck as snapshots, an attempt to give physicality to the ephemeral and intangible sensations.

 

The artist works boldly in the exhibition space and creates a highly atmospheric environment. The exhibition walls are completely painted over and the floor is covered with sand; it is as if the artist is taking us on a journey through the cracks of time to an abandoned space, which will soon be completely covered by sand and nature will take over.

Nature is present on all the artworks – breathing and idyllic or artificial and fictional, a mere mimicry, and it is impossible to verify which it is. And people, regardless of the nature of their environment and background, still continue to live and create their own reality, beautify, decorate, sometimes forget and maybe even disguise the situation.

 

The series created for the exhibition was inspired by a photograph taken by the artist. A shot from an abandoned house, which was destroyed by nature, looted by people, shaken by a thousand blows. This house is located in Mariam’s neighbourhood in Gali.

 

It seems that time could not win over the photo wallpaper pasted ceremonially in the centre of the living room. Covering the whole wall, the wallpaper captures an idyllic landscape by the lake. It's as if the chaos and destruction that ensued after placing the wallpaper, couldn't stir the waters on the eternally sunny autumn afternoon. A very popular interior design element of the 1980s, it is a remnant of a world that no longer exists, as if it is a portal into a parallel reality. A sensation is created that there was an idyllic, harmonious time, a perpetual tranquility. However, this slightly sun-drenched peace, which the Soviet kitsch panorama radiates, raises the main question - did this harmony really ever exist, or is it just an illusion, a spectacular lie used to disguise reality?!