THE PANTHERS IN MY BLOSSOMING GARDEN // RAFAEL MEGALL
THE ARMENIAN PAVILION AT THE 57th INTERNATIONAL ART BIENNALE IN VENICE
May 13th 2017 - November 26th 2017
The Panthers In My Blossoming Garden by Rafael Megall.
Armenian Pavilion at the 57th La Biennale di Venezia.
Location: Collegio Armeno Moorat-Raphael - Palazzo Zenobio, Dorsoduro 2596, 30123 Venice. Google maps link.
Opening hours: 10:00 - 18:00, closed on Mondays.
Fifteen predominantly large-scale pieces for the galleries dedicated to Rafael Megall in the Armenian Pavilion. Promoted by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia, Megall’s participation in the 57. Venice Biennale has been realized in collaboration with the National Gallery of Yerevan, which will later host the exhibit. Curated by Demetrio Paparoni.
Rafael Megall is not an artist of the diaspora, but rather he represents the new face of a generation of artists who have chosen not to emigrate to find fortune. As Demetrio Paparoni writes in the exhibit catalogue, a central theme of the works created by Megall for the Armenian Pavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale is the presence of elegant and aggressive panthers immersed in colorful and blossoming nature. In these paintings the artist emphasizes how it is behind the beauty assumed by the feline while in his natural habitat that the danger of his aggression hides.
The title of the exhibit, The Panthers in My Blossoming Garden, highlights the constant presence of danger for man, even when he feels safe within the boundaries of his environment. Yet, it also represents the danger animals face because of man. […] In these paintings one can perceive the echo of the transformation of natural elements into decorative frames, which in Armenian ancient miniatures and bas-reliefs take shape through stylization, repetition, linkages and interlaces. The resonance of this historical memory becomes particularly evident in Megall’s constant references to khachkar, bas-reliefs on stonestelesbearing carved crosses featuring two blooming sprouts at their base, a motif that also characterizes his previous paintings.
