Visualizing the transcendental: Irakli Parjiani’s metaphysical landscapes

Abstract

According to contemporary philosophic-aesthetic reflection, the transcendent dimension is essential for human existence and manifests itself in aesthetic experience (Bryl, 1995: 104). Art is by necessity metaphoric and symbolic in nature allowing possibilities for expressing certain kinds of internal experiences not amenable to conceptual explanation. Artistic experience as well as the identity of the picture is by no means transcendental; it reaches beyond the thought, into the extra-ordinary reality that is signified by the picture. Nevertheless, transcending has never been regarded as a systematic objective of studies in art history. The paper explores the concept of transcending in relation to the work of art and examines the ways transcending is realized in the artwork. To elucidate the above issues and illustrate the argument, the paper explores metaphysical landscapes by a Georgian painter Irakli Parjiani (1950-1991).