F63.9 by Zurab Arabidze: love is ...

Contemporary Georgian artist, Zurab Arabidze, is exhibiting his F63.9 collection at the Georgian National Gallery from 21 April to 10 May 2016. Although the works are untitled, this is a collection about love – outer love and inner love: the love of others and self love. It’s an extremely positive and uplifting exhibition.

Arabidze says about the collection, ‘Every person wants to love and to be loved with strong, true and sincere love. Find your part of love at the exhibition where you can collect feelings.’ He adds that the ‘exhibtion is for everyone, who loves to hug, who considers that love is and always will be, for whom love breathes, for those who believe that love will come, if not today then tomorrow.’

He writes the same phrase repeatedly, employing the mantra principle. The idea is to read each word of the artwork from beginning to end to experience its changing energy and feelings. The phrases are repeated, often up to 100 times.

There are 15 pieces in the exhibition (one is a bookcase with his books of love). The media include canvas and mirrors, with various backgrounds, such as black, white, gold, and glass. The writing (in Georgian script) appears as white writing on black background, gold on white, white on mirror, white on white, and gold on gold.

The bookcase is an installation that presents the book ‘I Love You’ in an old cabinet. Love is explained 63,468 times, with the instructions to ‘Give this to your beloved person and ask them to read it. Give it to your parents, children, friends, and of course to your beloved. The first page of this book is empty for you to express how much you love that person.’

Below is white on mirror, ‘I am the most beautiful.’

‘There is love inside me’ is white writing on glass.

Below is ‘hug me.’

Below is ‘I love you.’

Below is ‘Love will come. Love is …’

Below is ‘Love will come tomorrow.’

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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