Evgeny Merman is a native of Ukraine based in Israel. This travelling exhibition has been previously shown in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Vilnius, Lithuania; it includes large-scale paintings, all inspired by an illustrated geographical atlas, which was published in several editions at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in Leipzig, Germany. Along with landscapes and sites, the illustrations depict the inhabitants of countries, islands, deserts, and mountains in different parts of the world, detailing the structure of the body, skull and facial features of different races and nationalities from the perspective of German explorer and illustrator, in the dusk of the German Empire and the birth of the Nationalist Nazi movement. Merman’s oil paintings follow the illustrations accompanying the second volume of the atlas dedicated to non-European countries, focusing on certain images that aroused his curiosity: people from different cultures and nationalities, fauna and flora.
Merman’s choice to use the little monochromatic drawings in the book and give them a large colorful interpretation is a defiant stance. It is difficult to find local references in his work, such is the case with the present series of paintings, where the reference is to European painting (or illustration). At the same time, the selection of images may not be entirely random and can be related to the biography and geo-political reality of the artist. His practice here is reminiscent of the ‘cover’ practice of popular music, or the re-producing of old movies, through which he appropriates the original illustrations and "dresses" them in new, personal, and up-to-date attire. Through this process, a discussion of the power relations between a dominant culture and a controlled culture, as shaped by hundreds of years of colonialism, develops. The discussion is reinforced by the choice of images from this volume of the atlas, which deals, as stated, with what Europeans call "the Third World." Merman's paintings emphasize the dissonance between Western admiration for "the noble savage" and the history of the occupation and exploitation of these "savages” and remind us how throughout history and to this day the fear of the stranger and the unknown translates into hatred and violence.
This debate has gained relevance in recent months considering Russian aggression against Ukraine and its citizens. The Russian power, which has embraced Eastern European countries with a bear hug for most of the twentieth century, is struggling to relinquish cultural and economic control over the former Soviet Union, and has declared Ukraine part of Russia, and its citizens Russians. Ukrainian independence and a return to the original culture and language are perceived by the Russian hegemony as a revolt, and the approach to the West as a threat to Russia. The issue of dominance and control discussed in Merman’s paintings is therefore not a historical issue, it is contemporary and relevant, and touches personally on the artist, his homeland, his family and his friends.
Evgeny Merman approaches the atlas with the eyes of a painter, he only refers to the drawings and ignores the German text that he cannot read. His painterly approach in this series is less meticulous and less realistic than the illustrator’s approach. He chooses the themes and compositions that interest him as a painter, occasionally connecting images from various illustrations to one painting, or only referring to a section from the original illustration. The result is a very colorful series of paintings, characterized by quick and expressive brushstrokes, which gives new and updated life to the old world that the great historical and traumatic events of the twentieth century have changed beyond recognition.
The exhibition has been made possible with the generous support of the Tsekh Contemporary Art Galleries in Kyiv and Vilnius.
