Atom Hovhanesyan

"NY based artist working in oil/ ink,  born and raised in Armenia. Started as a self taught artist and have studied in Art Students league of NY, and National Academy. Began copying old master drawings (Leonardo, Raphael, Del Sarto, Pontormo, Tintoretto) as well as portrait work. Continued studies after Seurat drawings, Van Gogh, and Cezanne. I understood that most art movements have roots in preceding ideas, and saw all art as one interlinked continuos chain, and so I started studying old master works and  rigorously copying paintings and drawings of different eras in art with a focus on post-impressionism , and decided to attempt to become a complete painter as were Kandinsky, Gorky and De Kooning.

Continued to make studies of  Post impressionist masters. 

Studied art history as a whole, focusing on high renaissance, baroque, romanticism, realism and impressionism. Attempting to connect and understand  the influences of modern masters and movements, such as Cubism, Futurism, Abstract expressionism. Continued study of color theory as well as refining the actual process of grinding my own colors. 

Post Divisionism works:

Influenced by post impressionism with cubist approach to picture plane. The goal is to utilize the whole surface of the support challenging the viewer’s perception of negative space. Essentially divisionism with optical approach to coloration, the figure/composition is woven in to the fabric of the plane and space warps in to the figure. In the painting process repetitive almost automatic application of the crosshatched lines allows the subconscious the opportunity to direct the composition, there is a tension between the desire to hide vs. the need to reveal, conflict between subconscious and self-conscious.

Ink Drawings:

The seemingly chaotic application of lines (cross hatches) is intentional, I'm trying to follow in line of the post divisionism paintings, creating a unified fabric of the plane, modeling with parallel hatch marks would go against this, and would make it more of a plastic approach, and would emphasize the distinction of background foreground. In short I'm trying to arrive at impressionistic use of ink as the medium with surreal or symbolic mindset.”

arahov62@yahoo.com

http://artbyatom.com