Yerevan/Mediamax/. Armenia will take part in the 57th Venice Biennale with Viva Arte Viva concept on May 13-November 26.

Thre artists will represent Armenia at Biennale: Rafael Megall (Melikyan), Jean Boghossian and Miro Persolja.

The Armenian pavilion will open in Murad Rafaelian College in Venice on May 11. At the same time, the exhibition will be accessible in the Armenian Saint Cross Church. Armenian participants will have an individual exhibition next to artists from 87 countries, presenting their approaches within the Viva Arte Viva concept.

Rafael Megall prepared all 15 works in his “Leopards in my blooming garden” exhibition specifically for the Biennale. Nevertheless, leopard features in his art very frequently. Megall even had a model for those 12 paintings and 3 wood works – a 4-month-old leopard.

“For me, garden is the Garden of Eden that symbolizes Armenia. Leopard is the people who live there in harmony but can become very dangerous if they need to. The garden is full of flowers and plants. To paint them, I used Armenian ornaments in a new way. Art becomes alive in the human-nature relationship,” Rafael Megall said.

Armenian Lebanese, Brussels-based artist and sculptor Jean Boghossian will present “Eternal Flame” exhibition at the Biennale, which includes works made with use of fire and welding techniques.

The third representative of Armenia is Slovenian and lives in Italy. Last year Miro Persolja had an individual exhibition at the National Gallery of Armenia, which featured colourful works on glass, canvas and other materials. Representative of the Armenian pavilion Svetlana Sahakyan said that the three selected artists’ works reflect the Biennale’s idea the best.

“Modern art should be a direct expression and continuation of life. The goal is to preserve, revive and save modern life with all its displays through modern art. The human-nature relationship and harmony are common themes for our three artists,” Svetlana Sahakyan said.

Armenia has been an active participant of art and architecture biennales in Venice in recent years. In 2015, Armenian pavilion was awarded the highest prize, Golden Lion.