Tiberiy Szilvashi‘s paintings, regardless of their size and material, always testify to the continuity of the painting process. They are devoid of images or any hints and require the viewer to concentrate completely on themselves. This stage in understanding the work is quite difficult.
Representing an extreme case of analytical abstraction, the works of Tiberiy Szilvashi transform dead and inert matter into a state of light. The series of works Chances, which creates a holistic philosophy, looks like a separate period of the author. A period that moved in parallel to and independently of other projects.
As a painter, Tiberiy Szilvashi works with objects, the painter’s activity does not end with a painting, it is not limited to space.
The works on paper that emerge from Tiberiy’s attention to the waste of the production process are paintings that have gone beyond his monochromes and other works on canvas.
Tiberiy cultivates painting by layering oil paint color by color, leaving other colors and textures beneath the monochrome, forming the internal structure of the work, making it invisible but tangible to the viewer.
Some of the works were created on the pages of the press, and now they are devoid of information. What can painting do in the new conditions of existence in the world of information space? Not to inform, to be no more than a part of the world of physical presence. In times of aggressive information reality, the works of Tiberiy Silvashi represent its opposite, and the painter remains true to himself, continuing not to make exhibitions-statements.
His works and endless searches are on the verge of resembling an alchemical process. And as a result, the viewer must have a certain background to be able to feel the experience of the subtle and educated person, the philosopher, behind the creation of these works.
The presented works are not so much an impulse as the result of the artist’s long journey and a concise expression of the layers of knowledge and experience acquired during his life, where there is still room for external influence, and also there is a reflection of the permission to allow this influence and notice the completeness of the gesture.
Chances might be the highest point of freedom in art. Because such randomness did not even have a set of possible options. Once again, Tiberiy brings us to something new, something so simple that it seems like there is nothing beyond it, but this is an illusion. We are observing philosophy: things that could be, but also could not be, that is, they are not a necessity, yet they exist.
Monochromes are not a aboutcolor. They’re about what lies behind it and what makes it a color.
In a conversation with Jerzy Onuch, Tiberiy Szilvashi agrees with Jackson Pollock’s opinion that the viewer should not look for something, they should look passively. Passivity is both neutral and monochrome. Painting ceases to be a tool of communication, but creates the optics of a close look, where the most important element becomes the culture of distinction… ( Tiberiy Szilvashi, The Cloud Trap).
Curators Katya Syta and Ksenia Fokina continue to reveal the facets of Tiberiy Szilvashi painting practice through his Chances series. They have already managed to present this project in Zaporizhia at the Modern City Hub, at the Eye Sea Gallery in Kyiv, at the Prykarpattia Arts Museum in Ivano-Frankivsk, and at the Transcarpathian Museum of Folk Architecture and Life in Uzhhorod. The expanded exhibition includes works on paper created randomly between 2016 and 2021 and Monochromes created since 2013.