According to anthropologist Gregory Bateson, Western civilization has embarked on the path of exalting the individual at the expense of his existence in equilibrium with the environment, and the path of hypertrophying consciousness at the expense of the interaction and equilibrium of conscious and unconscious (art, religion, etc.) forms of mental activity. The philosopher contrasted the basic assumptions and methods of various sciences with the search for patterns behind patterns and the processes underlying the structures. His main goal was to discover the principles of organization in all the phenomena that he observed; that is, the «pattern which connects».

In his paintings from the «The Panthers in my Blossoming Garden» series, Megall finds a visual «pattern which connects», which he uses to organize and structure the world’s chaos. Like pre-historic individuals, who, exploring the world around them, left the spray-painted sil- houettes of their hands on the walls of the Cave of Hands - leaving their mark and also making the surrounding world «more hu- mane», - Megall creates an image of a paradise garden, protected by an elaborate network of vegetative man-made ornamentation. He thus demonstrates the possibility of achieving equilibrium, al- luding to the ancient «locus amoenus» with its lush greenery and utterly benign and welcoming nature. At the same time, introduc- ing the figure of a predator into the composition, the artist points to the inevitable dissonance and tragedy of original sin: harmony

is fragile, its destruction is predetermined.
Megall’s special interest in ornamentation goes back to folk stone carvings, frescoes, medieval flyleaves, and, especially, to the works of Armenian historian, ethnographer, art theorist and artist Vardges Surenyants (1860-1921). Mystical and abounding in trag- ic notes, the sophisticated works of the master from the modern era still hypnotize Megall. Enigmatic, almost dreamlike faces of women in Vardges Surenyants’ paintings Salome (1907 the Na- tional Gallery of Armenia) and Woman-knight (1909, the National Gallery of Armenia) emerge through the mother-of-pearl sfumato of the ornamental background and the architecture of floridly dec- orated clothes.
Thematically, the modern predecessor of Megall is Georgian artist

One characteristic feature of the world created by Megall is the absence of emp- tiness, the exclusion of space for anything casual. He appears to make a point of preventing anything chaotic from entering the continuum of his works organized by the structure of ornamentation. In their interpretations of paintings, Symbolist art critics G. Wolfen and E. Panofsky correlate the horizon line with the concept of the future; the further from the viewer the horizon line is, the more distant of a future it symbolizes, tending to become a symbol of infinity. In Megall’s paintings there is no horizon whatsoever; as a consequence, they speak of the present. A distinctive density of saturated, active surfaces in his works insistently requires the viewer’s close attention. The way he fills space visually simultaneously refers to Armenian miniatures, Medieval art, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and modern imitations on canvas of digital art forms. The artist appropriates the images of panthers from a silver cup from one of the Transcaucasian royal necropolises in Karachamba, (22nd-21st centuries BC), placing them in an ornamental garden reminiscent of 14th century manuscripts, all the while visually approaching them in a modern manner.

One of the ways in which the author plays with the viewer is through elegant allusions to the art of the past—op-art—with its objective of cheating the eye and bringing the viewer to a state of optical illusion through combining flat and spatial figures, as well as psychedelics. Megall’s painting assimilates many modern technologies, including aerial photography and autostereograms. The effect of stereograms and the remarkable ability of the human eye to see a three-dimen- sional image on a flat surface is well known. In painting #5 from The Panthers in my Blossoming Garden Megall uses visual hints of this technique to force the viewer to take a closer look at the picture, and to make a greater effort to read the meaning concealed by it, which cannot be grasped through a mere fleeting glance. The inherent rhythm of the work is pivotal in Megall’s art. Over and over again the outline of the panther’s face repeats itself, it multiplies, finding its own space in the composition. Pulsating like a heartbeat, when it comes to life it seems to vociferate its fullness, passion, intensity and fear of its very fate.

The artist additionally refers to art practices of the 1970s, with their characteristic boost of the pictorial effect, diversity of methods and play on traditions and styles. The stern and piercing images in Megall’s canvases clash with the ironic works by Gilbert and George, which stylistically precede them. Portraits of Megall’s pred- ators remind us of Siberian Tiger (1983) from the Endangered Species series by Andy Warhol, but Megall’s task is not confined to the desire to protect animals from unrestricted and limitless human progress. The artist, like the character of Snail on the slope, a story by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, when talking with the mysterious living Forest, says: «But I’m not only afraid of you, I’m also afraid for you». People «are capable of any extremes, of the most extreme degree of stupidity and wisdom, cruelty and pity, fury and endurance. They lack only one thing: understanding».2 The artist is looking for ways to achieve this understanding, this reverent worldview.

A similar attitude with regard to the world is described in the novella by psychologist Stanislav Grof Call of the Jaguar. The author writes about the present global crisis, which has deep psycho-spiritual roots and will not be resolved without a deep inner transformation of humanity through mystical states. The phospho- rescent panther looking inwards in The Panthers in my Blossoming Garden #4 is depicted as a feline from the spiritual dimension, from a psychedelic experience aimed at triggering profound auspicious changes in personality including a decrease in aggression and greed, and the awakening of love, compassion and spirituality that are universal, non-selective and comprehensive.

In the work Totem, the central figure of the composition is the giant silhouette of the miniature sculpture Lionesses of Guennol, ca. 3000-2800 BC, created in ancient Mesopotamia. Found in Iraq, it may have been used as an amulet or symbol of power. Comparing the silhouette of the lioness with the lines of a cross, Megall seems to return to the images of giant heraldic lions carved in stone in the courtyard of the temple in the 13th century Geghard Monastery, side by side with the images of ornamental crosses. Repeatedly refracted, the image finds a new life in the works of Megall. In the game of shadows within the silhouette of a lioness, the eye of the attentive viewer discovers the hidden motif of a close embrace and a kiss. The misleading lightness and the apparent simplicity of his works is another game put forward by the artist. He plays with a repetitive motif, pattern or seriality. The image of a giant cat is made bigger and more dynamic through a planar ligature of the background and foreground. Visible layers of paint make the artist’s works both complex and sophisticated, requiring imagination, as well as advanced mas- tery of a variety of artistic methods and techniques.