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Vahram — The Eternal in The Present
ahram’s art could not be appropriately analyzed, interpreted or evaluated without reference to the genesis of the contemporary Russian school of painting. Like each painter of the era, Vahram’s style and qualifications were formed during the collapse of Soviet Communism. Also, not unlike his contemporaries, his creativity, too, was liberated from the shackles of the wretched inclinations of Communism, which under the guise of tradition, continued to linger and harm the social structure. Today, after the passing of two decades, things have changed in the former Soviet Union and in the world at large. Parallel to these ever-changing circumstances, Vahram’s art evolved dramatically. During the devastating 1988 earthquake in Armenia, Vahram was in his birthplace of Vanadzor, a town very close to the epicenter of the tremors. In minutes, he lost many friends and relatives—among them his first love. The anguish of the earthquake radically changed the meaning and direction of his life. The former romantic and carefree young man became prudent, and found himself facing tremendous responsibilities. Death’s
By Dr. MOVSES ZIRANI proximity and life’s transitory nature on the one hand, and the instantaneous pressures of the calamitous miseries on the other, did not wreck Vahram; rather they empowered him to embark on a struggle for a new and better life; thus the adage “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” The following year, Vahram took a decisive step. He traveled to St. Petersburg where in the Hermitage he studied the masterpieces of the Renaissance artists and mastered his painting skills. While the earthquake changed his perspective on life, the St. Petersburg journey, and the Hermitage in particular, transformed his perception of art by opening up his aestheticism to new dimensions. Revitalized and captured by Renaissance art—especially by Rembrandt and Vermeer— in 1990 he returned to Yerevan to continue his studies and embark on his creative life. The calamities of the earthquake, the political instability, the Armenian-Azeri bloody conflict and the economical hardship were reminiscent of Russia—and even Europe—at the beginning of the 20th century.
Open Air Golf
In this ambiance, the drive of creativity and the urgent need for survival provided new possibilities for Vahram. Instead of giving up to hopelessness and despair, he purified his soul in these sufferings and he became genuinely productive. Vahram’s creative explorations stretched to all domains of art schools that flourished in Russia and Europe at the turn of the 20th century, such as Rayonism and Suprematism to Abstraction and Conceptual Art. During these explorations Vahram produced two significant paintings: Self-portrait (1992) and The Nude (1993). His Self-portrait conveys many messages. In it, he gazes in a reproachable pose. Despite his mutilated and painful past, he has to carry out his responsibilities with dignity. He is well aware of the unfair circumstances surrounding him, but he clings to the present to foster his future. The Nude is the vibrant and beautiful life itself portrayed in a woman full of strength and dynamism. She is bursting with sexuality but her gender is not underlined. She is lively and full of energy and continues her struggle for life. Fine Art Magazine • Fall 2009 • 17
and started to burn the outlines of Dumping Place and Genocide. His wife, sensing his intensions, followed him and stopped him from destroying his two masterworks. After some days of deep reflection, he decided to leave for Moscow. There, in a short time he met Russian painters Khoudiakov, Andre Costin, Yuri Tsevetayev, Alexander Maltsev and others, participating in their get-togethers and exhibitions. He became a member of the Post-Soviet Painting group whose art is labeled by some as ‘fantastic surrealism’ and by others as ‘absurd surrealism.’ Today, when we penetrate into its ethos, we can surely identify it as ‘absurd realism.’ edieval Chinese philosophers believed that animals do not have memory; also that they could not depict the future. Therefore, they only live in the present, which naturally gives them the sensation of eternity. Despite the fact that Zen philosophy also teaches that there are neither past nor future but only present, humans possess the hereditary or traditional consciousness and memorization of the past. They could have a certain idea of the future and plan it. If, to a certain degree, the present is conditioned by the past, then to a certain degree the future relies on the present. Although under all circumstances, the present evolves with time on the borderline of the present and the future. In the rapid course of time, the present immediately becomes the past, near the future becomes the present and the far future remains somber and wavering. Departing from these philosophical convictions, Vahram molds a world in which time comes out of the limitations of the present, and the past rebuilds and continues in the future as present. Vahram continues to relive the memories of the earthquake, when life was instantaneously interrupted in a destroyed city where tens of thousands inhabitants’ lives were lost. Survivors—among them Vahram—lose future delineation and feel present sentience as an eternal lingering. After the earthquake, Vahram uncovers the reasoning of a life of Renaissance through art. His models come from the Renaissance period, pass through his life and disclose in the future as if in the present. His “heroes” leave their medieval castles and palaces and live and toil on balconies and in gardens and fields. They wear medieval clothes and suitable accessories and go around on foot or in uncommon carts and boats. They sing and play golf, tennis, bowling, billiards, dominoes, poker and other ancient and unknown games. Different types of animals (dogs, fishes, birds…) befriend them. But in
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Captain Parrot
For a number of years, Vahram experimented with various artistic techniques and in 1995 produced two great pieces which marked a turning point in his creative journey: Dumping Place and Genocide. Dumping Place portrays an abandoned field where pipes, pitchers, boxes, cartridges, tires, books, shoes and other items are dumped. In the middle of the painting, there is a phonograph symbolizing the centrality of the message-bearer. At a far distance lies the immense horizon. The main question arises: Who are the owners of these discarded objects and why are they disregarded? It genuinely corresponds to the post-earthquake situation in Armenia where people felt abandoned, discarded, disowned and forgotten. The term “genocide” has its roots in the 1915 Armenian genocide which not only brings the gloomy memories of perpetual genocides, but also corresponds to our life today. A chopped human skeleton dominates the whole canvas; the skull at its center—as if interrelated to the phonograph of the Dumping Place—again echoes the imperative of the message-bearer. The bones of the hand, foot, chest and the pelvis appear as newly autopsied—breathing and dissenting. Thus, they extend beyond the Armenian genocide and embrace all the genocides. This artwork represents the harsh reality that rational humans consciously can butcher other rational humans, but at the same time it invites them to bear the responsibility of their crimes against humanity. The most powerful message reaches us through the gnashing teeth of the skull, transmitting rage and anger towards all humanity. It is not incidental that 18 • Fine Art Magazine • Fall 2009
this painting was originally called Lesson on Life’s Anatomy. Also, it is not incidental that Vahram could not detach himself from Dumping Place and Genocide; they are hung in his atelier as a living message and source of inspiration, despite the fact that once, in a tormented mood, he almost burned them. Based on this creative experience, Vahram concluded that whatever we see and touch are mere appearances. The ultimate reality is interred in our mysterious inner-self, where there are devourers and innocent preys, and where positive and negative go parallel in need of excavation and articulation. All in all, Vahram’s still life was in metamorphosis. Fishes resting on the plate breathe and live, and forks, placed next to the fishes, are inspiring and meaningful. In 1995, Vahram’s conditions improved to become bearable. He was able to buy a small house and rent an atelier, even though his income was limited. But because of his creative energy, he began to be re-enlivened, clinging to life and voraciously delving into the far eastern spiritualities of Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism and especially Zen philosophy, which commands his new perspectives and creative explorations. Vahram tirelessly studied and painted. wholly absorbed in his work, even on Sundays, oblivious to his family responsibilities. After two years passed, he became fatigued from overwork. The advice of his friends and doctors could not halt him. “Life is too short,” he says. “In my genes there are centurieslong accumulations of beauty in need of bursting out.” So after a sleepless night, early in the morning, he went to his atelier
The Silk Scarf, 162x130cm, oil on canvas, 2006
Song of the Tree
this accommodative and peaceful milieu, Vahram’s many models wear masks and spy on each other. At this significant point, life deviates and distrust and suspicion reach the point of paranoia. Anxieties generate concealed concern on frozen and unflattering human faces. Sometimes their gender is blurry. Animals are full of life and unaware of the barbarity they are surrounded with. And only teenagers—still inertly clean of life’s ugliness—calmly pursue their life innocently. In mythology some gods were born as teenagers, like the Greek god of courier and wisdom Hermes, Indian saviour god Mourgan and Armenian god of war Vahakn. They did not have infancy and the opportunity of growing up. As adolescents, they live in time and space eternally. In Leonardo da Vinci’s Madonna, Jesus bodily is a newborn baby but his big and peculiar eyes indicates the presence of a wise man. As if he was born like that! Baby Jesus will grow physically but his brilliant eyes will signify his eternal divinity. Vahram’s teenagers were born all of a sudden; they have not encountered childish adventures and life’s ups and downs. For them life is an amusement park and their amusement is life itself. We feel that they were born as they are and will continue to live in the same course. Despite the fact that sometimes they soar and freely move in the distance, it looks like their behavior is monitored and restricted in eternity. Communists only conveyed the deception of freedom to their citizens and Vahram’s models still linger in that world. Seventy years of communist aggression and scientific accomplishments in the world amended the environment and tried to dictate life’s direction, but humans remained the same avaricious and
cruel beings, who even are ready to destroy their own culture and cities as characteristic uncivilized creatures. All religions and humanitarian new ideologies failed to liberate humans from their inhuman impulses. To liberate himself from life’s ruthlessness and nuisances, the artist (in this case Vahram) shapes his milieu and determines the course of his life, where present is a vision for spiritual shelter and imagination is guided by inner drives, and life evolves in time and space for ever and ever. Each one of Vahram’s paintings is like a sacred oasis. His paintings continuously integrate with each other. They reflect common life in a common environment where feelings do not trail truth and truth does not correspond to the mute and weary human rulings. Although in Vahram’s paintings everything is illogical and absurd, his art is the repercussion of the harsh reality where we, the viewers, question life and death, black and white, reality and fantasy, apathy and responsibility, and bliss and melancholy. Vahram’s art leads the viewer to self-evaluative explorations, where our rationality itself is a unique value to be appreciated with no discrimination of human color, race, nationality, capabilities, achievements and other factors. All humans are equal as rational beings. Vahram endeavors to paint self-evaluated appreciation of humans, to mold their ego, to place them in the present and to eternalize the present, where we continue to pose perpetual questions of ‘Where is the truth? What is the truth?’ What is the truth? Does it lie in the things we touch or can it only be seen by an inner spiritual light? Is life more real than death? Is death an end or the doorway to an another life? Where is the fairy tale? Does it lie in children’s daily lives or in the inner sanctums of humans molded by sacred upheavals? And, finally, the big question lingers on: WHY? Fine Art Magazine • Fall 2009 • 19