Tengiz Marr
September – October, 2020
19a Ingorokva Street
Getting close to any object involves a combination of attention, observation, studying, confirmation or rejection of the first impression, going into the depths of the concealed, or detecting its invisible resources. How does a thing, phenomenon, or object change when approached? Does the image perceived from the distance coincide with the one seen from near? Where is the intersection of illusion and reality? How is our perception transformed from glimpsing to observing? Is the identity revealed or concealed? How do the artist and viewer participate in this process?
Tengiz Marr studies and shares with us through his works this constant and sometimes unconscious process of seeing, perceiving, and feeling the object. These works, with their artistic and technical perfection, might at first seem like photos, but once you approach them, astounded, you quickly move from the illusion of photography to that level of art, where the freedom reached through professional skills- allows the artist to create any desired effect.
The precondition of the artist’s works is a real object. He selects specific objects – often plants, fruit, sometimes landscapes. In each artwork, he resorts to hyperrealistic modification of the selected object. They have detailed, structural, almost tactile, and morphological characteristics.
Contemplation – concentration is so intense that the fear of approaching is overcome by the pleasure of closeness.
The artist manages to make us feel the intensity of observing and contemplating the object the way he does himself. He allows us emotionally perceive and consciously get involved in the process of transformation managed by him. The artist depicts the object in full, notices, and makes us notice even those details that often remain unnoticed: scattered veins of leaves, gloss or fuzziness of petals, the shadow of pinecone scales, ripeness of fruits. He paints in such a way that makes us feel the trembling of a blossoming flower, the texture of plants and fruits, juice of the fruit, lightness of leaves and heaviness of fruits, cold of the metal, heat of the desert, and so on. These “stories told” hyper-realistically and made with gouache with technical perfection are set against a neutral background, with a minimalistic suggestion of the supporting plane. Indication of the supporting plane may link to the artist’s primary profession – architecture. This professional “technique” is revealed in the composition of the works and the arrangement of space and structural model.
Each object turns into architectural forms, which like mines, explode with modeling of color and light against the dark background of the painting. Using this artistic manipulation, the author creates an effect and turns the object painted in a hyper-realistic manner into an abstract shape, breaking the standard “narrative” of the selected motif and offering the viewer an interpretational setting, characteristic of Abstract art.
Baia Tsikoridze