In a Puddle of Rust, a Faded Memory Drips

Solo exhibition

Curated by Judit Árva

Experimental Space Szövetség, Budapest

May 2023

Time and memory, these two hard-to-define notions, stand at the center of interest of Erekle Chinchilakashvili, a visual artist from Georgia. They take visible form on the surfaces of his artworks. For a few days, the artist involves this partially run-down space at Szövetség utca 11. in his ongoing research to extend the framework of interpretation and create new contexts between (inner)spaces and time. 

According to the historian Pierre Nora, memory is life, which “remains in permanent evolution, open to the dialectic of remembering and forgetting, unconscious of its successive deformations, vulnerable to manipulation and appropriation, susceptible to being long dormant and periodically revived.” One cannot talk about memory without considering the concept of time, which in Chinchilakashvili’s artistic practice, is emphasized as psychological time, a subjective and internal phenomenon distinct from physical time. Psychological time, as the artist stated, “is closely bonded with memories, which alter the flow and pace of our perception in various ways.” Chinchilakashvili, similarly to an archeologist, digs for sources deep into his consciousness to revive images and memories that are faded and “out of context” to create new constellations, here and now. While doing so, the artist is aware that “the mechanisms behind our perception decide on their own which memories get remembered by our conscious mind and which ones float in the deeper waters of our psyche.” 

Chinchilakashvili is active in fields of different media, such as painting, mixed media, installation and video. Besides external sources, the artist brings fragments of (his personal) stories into a play; bringing specific scenes from his different life periods. Also, he uses various techniques and materials, such as found images and old daguerreotypes. Prints, organic and inorganic materials like dried moss and concrete intertwine and emerge at the surface of various artworks. In the case of his mixed media works, he digitally altered and deconstructed his pre-existing paintings and found images, layering and accumulating memory fragments and emotions. These layers stem from different times, places and cultures: dwelling houses in Budapest interwoven with Georgian handwritings, or urban views of Hungarian cities are stratified with scenes coming from mountains of the Caucasus. Living, vivid and hidden, visible and invisible memories –  based on the knowledge and traces of history – are united in his artworks.  

This space itself  is also in a dialogue with the artworks, giving another aspect and layer for interpretations. As Chinchilakashvili formulated, “the oxidation of memories by time is similar to how the moisture in this space oxidizes the walls, wood and steel in the interior of the area that you, the viewer, currently inhabit. This is precisely the process that is interesting for me.”

 

Text by Judit Árva