The exceptional, subtle and refined in the works of Temo is the presence of the poetry, flowing in the world, in that street theatre of life, a part of which we all are. There is nothing dearer than street theatre. It is namely there that the heroes of Shakespeare, the heroes of Kyiv, and the heroes of Tbilisi create history.
The heroes of Temo ‒ the favourites of children’s dreams, town folklore (especially colourful in old Tbilisi), mystery plays. Those who find the road home, or to church, or the stage. “Twilight” or “Night”, the remarkable secret relations of either people or dolls, made human by eternity, which, like the new moon, shines through the window. Reality seems to melt, opening in an alchemic reaction of light, leaving from everyday real life a mass of memories, a mysterious plastic fusion of people and butterflies, pilgrim‒figures and their shadows. The portrait works of Temo — a quiet rebellion against the rules, for the right to be a clairvoyant on the basis of what you feel, not what you see.
"The Twilight" (2003), oil on canvas, 100х120 cm.
In the works of the artist the live material of color is divided into a harmony of squares, in which personages are captured. The restless spectacle of harmony is sensed through the magnificent and insignificant, with humour and feeling, as if a doll is playing with a person.
The personages, scattered, like so many little creatures, are not the element of the subject or a part of the subject, about which it is possible to narrate and transform into literature. They are part of the painting. The work of Temo is a chain of mysteries, poetic mysteries .
"Night" (2003), oil on canvas, 100х120 cm.
The most mysterious thing in his works is light. What is this, sun or moon? If the sun or moon transform into eternally light day and night, then man's feeling will be forever that of a half-sleeping half-waking state. Precisely at this extremity the human soul rests and feels best of all. In our time of stress and endless violence threatening each of us, when the person has ceased to be a measure of values, the person returns, holding an ice-cream, a flag, a flower or a glass in his hands.
The works of Temo Svirely reflect the humanistic prognosis of life - the everyday life of people in the world by means of remarkable personages and miraculous transformations. In the flower, butterfly, clown, knight, playful puppy and weathercock. And someone in his own shadow.
"Living Mater" (2002), oil on canvas, 150х85 cm.
The artist marvels at his space, original, unstable, seemingly like the petals of an eastern lantern, beyond borders, fences and membranes. Thus free paper serpents hold sway in the wind, let free like the birds of spring, by a child’s hand.
Temo has his own meridians and parallels, experience of the life of the person-doll and the doll-person. The activity of street-theatre is remarkably appropriate for our holidays and work-days, everyday travels, meals, listening carefully to how the grass grows and how the bird sings.
"Forty four persons" (2002), oil on canvas, 65х130 см.
In essence, the lexicon of his works is the allegory of the evolution of the contemporary, and in no way a chronicle. Consequently objects and personages are seemingly guests from the alphabet of landscapes: C‒clown, F‒flag, H‒horseman, E‒embryo, C‒clock. The letters fuse with the word, the symbols come to life in the street theatre.
The picturesque reflections of Temo are the result of shining manifestations of the soul, which with time perceives differently and better than the eyes. The surface of the picture draws to itself nuances of light, which overcome the mono-semantic character of the paint, and give the suite of colours something secret, untouched, consecrating the distance between the work and the viewer for observation and contemplation.
Such important works as “Private life”, “Bringing up children”, “Twilight” create together with the attractive “chambers” canvases of chains between the heroes of the pictures themselves and the secret of the affinity of the author with his heroes and viewers.
"Bringing Up Children" (2002), oil on canvas, 45х100 cm.
The inventive alogisms of the artist cannot hide from careful viewing. Or above the head of a faceless girl grows a second, doll-like. In the composition of the picture smaller pictures reveal themselves with “portraits” in which aspects of self-parody are manifest. The heroes appear unclothed, though crowned.This elite, capricious game of beads is a code of emotions.The subtle border of motivations is an expressive sign of the works of Temo Svirely. It is poetic and spectacular, and always individual in its intricacy and variation. Temo creates the theme of “cheap” values amid brutal rubbish like a gold mine.
"Ephemera" (2003), oil on canvas, 100х120 cm.
“Ephemera”—the independent element of black, the expanse of eternity, with the single fire of the red human (heavenly or incorporeal?) figure. The lost butterfly has strayed from its orbit, like a man from a fatal course. In this work is the infernal formula of the unbounded. And who knows where the sun is hidden? Dreams? Human life? By means of a bare spiritual sphere the artist looks through the turbulent perception of the contemporary.
"Street Theatre" (2003), oil on canvas, 80х100 cm.
The uniqueness of Temo Svirely is in the attempt to convey the many-dimensioned world, where the game is condensed into ritual. The creativity of Temo answers to our spiritual focus, life and artistic experience, a humanistic prognosis of which is not the only conclusion it is possible to make.
Igor Dychenko
2003