Rafael Megall

Rafael Megall (Rafael Melikyan, Yerevan, 1983). At the center of Megall's works there is the representation of nature, which is however stylized and transformed into an ornamental pattern. His main subjects are panthers, tigers and jaguars, but also shattered porcelain, cartoon characters, iconic figures, monstrous and hybrid beings, often depicted on a phytomorphic background. Nature is represented in a flattened and stylized way with bright, saturated and electric colors closer to digital images than to real ones. The absence of perspective, of depth, the dense geometry of the graphic signs, their repetition and their intertwining create a horror vacui that recalls the tradition of the ancient Armenian miniature and of the bas-reliefs that adorn places of worship and palaces. To create his paintings Megall uses oil colors and stencils, the result of digital processing. Many of the elements used in his works have a symbolic and religious value. In 2017 he represented the Republic of Armenia at the 57th Venice Biennale. Personal exhibitions have been dedicated to him by the National Gallery of Armenia, in Yerevan, and by the MoCA in Moscow. He participated in the exhibition The New Frontiers of Painting at the Stelline Foundation (Milan, 2018).