The series MEME depicts the current state of modern society, which is characterised by the disappearance of individuality. The theory “MEME” was introduced by Richard Dawkins in his book “The Selfish Gene”. The author referred to a MEME as an element of a culture or behavioral system that is transferred from one person to another, in other words, a copy. The MEME figures depicted in Olga Georgitsia´s paintings also exist as copies, they have chosen to adopt the comfortable position of having the same and abstract personality. MEME are masses that oscillate between physical presence and soul absence. The titles of the MEME paintings are numbered according to the “Binary number” consisting of 0 and 1 – the basis of computer science.
Almost all MEME paintings are created exclusively with acrylic paints, in the technique of applying multiple layers of paint to achieve a perfect smoothness of the image. In this way, they appear digital and create a vision of the aesthetics of a three-dimensional image. Olga Georgitsia uses blue as a dominant colour, reflecting the coolness of the digital world. In
contrast to the blue, the bright gradients give an ephemeral luminous effect that falls on the surrounding spaces. In the spaces of MEME paintings, Olga Georgitsia creates elements with surrealist features: : deconstructed architecture that will never function in reality; broken objects of structures and walls emerging from the depths of an unexplored perspective; same and headless figures as a sign of biological beings with no individuality. Paintings MEME invite the viewer to wander into non-existent space.
Meme 0010
Acrylic on canvas
123 x 103 cm
2020
“We have long become a shell to digital interfaces, instead of breathing presence,” said Paul Virilio. It’s difficult to disagree with his statement, because our lives have become dominated and defined by screens. And we are an audience to whom information is only conveyed when there is guaranteed profit. Fascinating apps seem to be free and funny; they keep us entertained and enable us to be the center of attention, the center where nothing really happens. The future belongs to digital technology, but what place will humanity take in the age of virtuality and technological process?
Meme 0100
Acrylic on canvas
120 x 100 cm
2020
Friedrich Nietzsche had been racking his brains long before the Age of Abundance: “the thirst for the gorgeous show, instead of the comprehension of meanings, turns us into bad copies made on bad paper from erased negatives.” At this time this belief seemed strange, but today it seems that “turning us into copies” has become the corporation-funded trend. After all, a bright online life generates euphoria, a sense of joy and gives us the opportunity to reinvent ourselves. On the contrary, contemplative life seems less interesting. Nevertheless, contemplative life — the sweeping away of clichés — liberates a life that people have turned into a prison, and thus gives us a chance to become individuals again.
Meme 0101
Acrylic on canvas
123 x 103 cm
2021
“The world of winning marketing has turned us into a memorable device,” thought Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu´s thought is represented in my painting as MEME figures — or, in other words, as copies. Today, these figures appear everywhere — in films, pop music, advertising, fashion and social media — as constructs of the “perfect human,” who should be rich, successful and beautiful and should live a fast life. And we believe in these remarkably unattainable ideals because we see that, in the digital universe, the number of followers we have promises success. Life outside this system seems to be impossible. It has become easier for us to accept abstraction and blend into the system rather than fight to stand out as an individual. In our global system, billions of people lead almost the same life every day. The thought of such uniformity on such a large scale is astounding and, at the same time, fascinating.
Meme 0110
Acrylic on canvas
123 x 103 cm
2021
“We all live in a world strikingly similar to the original, in which everything is duplicated according to a script – Simulacrum” said Jean Baudrillard. To live in this world, people do not have to look at each other; we communicate not through touch or speaking but through screens. People do not walk for enjoyment anymore; they walk to imitate the digitally altered bodies presented to them in advertisements and brochures. If Baudrillard is right, then we are made up of Simulacrum; and, without realizing it, we are becoming a copy of the “perfect human” from the advertisements. We strive to dig purpose from the monotony of our lives and to elevate ourselves in the eyes of others.
Meme 0110
Acrylic on canvas
123 x 103 cm
2021
Unique but all the same, these individuals come from somewhere and go somewhere. They all have a purpose, but does that purpose make sense? We think we are reaching a personal goal but is it the one we really want, or is it the one we think we want but is in fact dictated by the collective unconscious?
All this is represented by these escalators in a deconstructed universe. They seem to go up and down endlessly. This does not seem to disturb us because our lives are guided by the Media whose influence is elementary and who have now educated us; and if others take the same path, it means that I am obviously on the right path too…. Connected to the mobile, in our seemingly unique network, we all absolutely know where we are going and why we are going there. At the end, is not the important thing to believe it, regardless of the reality…?
Meme 1010
Acrylic on canvas
153 x 103 cm
2021
In his novel Ends and Means, Aldous Huxley states, “Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.” In the work Meme 1010, we are seemingly presented with items we have been taught to believe we want and need…. But are these enticements coming to us, or are they luring us further into the vanishing point and farther from the comforts of a grounded reality? At some point, the labels on each bottle grow so miniscule that they become unintelligible. It is the irony of the marketplace — that by being given what we think we so desperately crave, we have lost sight of what our goals are as we dive ever deeper into the brutal chaos of humanity traveling in reverse.
Meme 1010
Mixed Media
108 x 143 cm
2021
The work Meme 1001 was created both traditionally and digitally using a mix of Photoshop, Illustrator and acrylic painting techniques; it strives to capture the aesthetic of commercial advertisements we see every day. In the race for clicks, our desire to have and be the best becomes primordial: bright and promising advertisements lure us in and convince us of the need for this or that product. We start to believe that possessing all “iconic” things will elevate us in the eyes of others and fill our lives with meaning. But what are we really — a society in pursuit of perfection, or a anti-utopia?