Ole, alone standing tree

Ole, alone standing tree Qeu Meparishvili The Why Not gallery February 19 – March 31 ‘The exhibition is a like an archive of fears, each of the works was born out of it. Much of my life is spent meditating on fear and working on defeating it. In old days, the Kharachogelis wore silver belts worth as much as their burial would – as if they wore the fear of death with them at all times’- writes Qeu in her statement. In the presented exhibition, the artist employs elements of theatricality and creates a sort of 'Gesamtkunstwerk' to take the viewer on a journey through the museum of her fears. Qeu uses a wide range of references to convey these feelings, be it ancient architecture and artefacts, mythology or poetry. Qeu Meparishvili's creative process is characterised by constant experimentation in search for new materials and forms. To create the works that muse on topics of emotional fragility and loneliness, the artist used materials and techniques such as: ceramics, pine, wax, chrome, tufting. However, she does not lose humour, inherent to her creative process, when talking about surprisingly honest and painful topics and in this way, she avoids cliched dramatisation. The exhibition title is taken from the poem ‘Ole’, 1931, by Giorgi Leonidze. A masterpiece of Georgian symbolist poetry, ‘roasted from within with the poison of loneliness’ the tree, Ole, a symbol of a strong-willed man weakened by solitude, is a kind of mantra for the artist, and as she herself sums it up, ‘the exhibition is a meditation on fear and living with it’. Qeu Meparishvili, born in 1995, is a multimedia artist working and living in Tbilisi. Qeu studied at the Shota Rustaveli theatre and Film Georgia State University but dropped out and resumed her studies at CCA - Centre of Contemporary Art in 2015. After graduating CCA she teamed up with artist Salome Dumbadze, and produced collaborative artworks under the name SHRAM Collective. Qeu experiments a lot with materials and ways of expression, she mainly works in video art, installation and sculpture. She often employs humour in her art and through it deals with acute and painful topics, both personal and socially relevant. Qeu’s works are often exhibited in group shows including Art and Freedom, CCA Tbilisi, 2020, Post.Digital.Dreams, In-Between Conditions, 2019, If Words became Violent, Sculpturinstitut Vienna, 2019, Oxygen No Fair, 2018. Her first solo show, I exist when you are here, where you never were I can never be, was held at the Patara gallery, 2018. Thewhynotgallery.com 150 Davit Agmashenebeli avenue, Tbilisi, Georgia