BIOGRAPHY

“Merab Surviladze’s paintings create an original version of abstract art, conceptually based on the metaphor of shadow and its philosophical reading. In this darkness, I pay no attention to origin, language, or skin color-for in the shadow, we are all free to be what we are.”
Merab Surviladze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. After graduating from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, he relocated to Belgium to further his studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels (La Cambre) and the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.
Connected to art from an early age through historical family ties, Merab spent his entire youth surrounded by artists. At the age of twenty-five, he began focusing fully on his passion, participating in various group exhibitions and presenting his first solo show in 1993.
His style has evolved dramatically over time. Moving away from traditional motifs, his paintings underwent a radical shift in both their spiritual and physical conception.
He added a new dimension to his works by integrating handmade acrylic figurines. This technique breaks the boundaries of classical painting, creating a striking three-dimensional effect and a dynamic play with the shadows cast by the figures on the canvas.
From a distance, the silhouettes often resemble a homogeneous mass or cosmic systems. Upon closer approach, they reveal themselves as symbolic, individual human beings. By synthesizing space, bodies, and shadows, his paintings ultimately serve as visual meditations on existential questions of the human condition.
Merab’s work has been presented in numerous exhibitions and art fairs across Europe. He currently lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.