Erekle Chinchilakashvili is based in Budapest, where he is currently part of the Doctoral School in Artistic Research. Erekle is passionate about researching the human condition through references to various historical narratives.
Found images, these second-hand sources, have become an essential source for his oeuvre since he is from a generation growing up in a world oversaturated by images. He feels that the amount of information a person has to digest has resulted in a process where information loses importance.
Therefore, Erekle attempts to identify images that he can recreate through painting. This way, his chosen image emerges to have a new presence. Therefore, the original image will get a new definition, new importance.
"All the artworks in the show ‘Shadows, Cypresses, and a Lost Sense of Immanence’ are loosely based on found images. My primary sources came from various Public Domain archives or other physical & online collections. I spend a lot of time searching through pictures about events that somehow spark interest in my conciseness. Whatever makes an effect on your inner state is primarily in contact with your sensual prism.
I am fascinated by the concept of the archive itself. What is does for us? What role does it play in the development of history? It seems that archives are the raw material for creating historical narratives, non-linear sources, which are scattered around with no particular order.
This mess of a vast number of images really resembles life on earth today. Every morning once we start the day, we start intaking visual information from our cell phones and laptops, then we go out to the street. We see billboards, street advertisements, images, images, images, an endless number of images every day. And we don't really get to choose the alternative of not seeing. There is no choice like that. So we experience a loss of meaning.
When transmitted to painting, the parts of initial photos transform themselves into a new existence. The pre-existing image has a presence, but it is an entirely different presence. So it is an act of transformation, an act of change and motion."
Hear more about the artist’s background, sources, and working process in a video here.
Erekle mainly works in oil and acrylic paints. However, since he is also passionate about the freedom in choosing approaches, he repeatedly combines conventional methods with various inventive and experimental ways. Apart from painting, he also works in the genre of collage and sculpture. Erekle pays a lot of consideration to what was created before him. His key influences come from various eclectic sources. Erekle is an admirer of Old Masters, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Peter Doig, Marlene Dumas, ancient Georgian wall paintings, and conceptual art.
Enjoy the opportunity to view Erekle Chinchilakashvili’s new work at Objets Trouvés during the exhibition's two-day opening on Friday, June 25 from 5-8pm or Saturday, June 26 from 11am-5pm.
