Atom Hovhanesyan — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

Apr 30

Apr 30 Atom Hovhanesyan

Biography

Atom Hovhanesyan (1981-2018)
As a faithful and respectful learner, Atom, then successor of legendary master’s vision, style and performance, loved and respected the traditional choice of medium and technique very highly. He respected the world of art so greatly he even ground his own colors to honor and continue the styles of legendary masters that he studied. Atom dedicated a colossal fraction of his life to learning the true traditions and techniques of art, sometimes spending 72 hours nonstop in creating a piece of work. Throughout his paintings and drawings, Atom’s breathtaking creations often turned out unexpectedly. When beginning a piece, he did not anticipate what the result would be, but it would often turn out to be a very unique creation, never having been observed before. He created a personal style and developed his own technique both in post divisionism and ink drawings constructing an unrepeatable style unique to Atom. Besides these styles, Atom was a multi-dimensional artist who successfully created drawings and paintings in different styles, different mediums exercising different techniques. He referred to himself as an abstract expressionist.

Artist Statement

ATOM HOVHANESYAN
A NY-based artist since 2009, working primarily in oil and ink. Studied at the Art Students League, National Academy of NY, and Grand Central Academy. The traditional choice of materials and medium, grind my own colors. In the abstract works: my goal is to create a unified atmosphere and sense of luminosity. Bits and pieces of forms from memory are utilized as building blocks for constructing the composition. There is no narrative or a specific reading, more of an epilogue that's open to interpretation, I'm trying to create a space complex enough and compelling enough to act as a point of departure while retaining the often accidental mystery and painterly energy.

(From Atom’s notebook)

In my case, however, the path to art is a strange one, and to be honest it still a mystery for me as to why I decided, in my mid to late twenties (I was born in 1981 and am 34 at the time of writing this), to let go of semi-successful career, disregard any educational background and seemingly out of nowhere start to draw and paint. I will attempt to explain and perhaps to understand myself, the reasons and my state of mind that has brought me to art, which, and I have absolutely no doubt in my mind, is my calling and is something, that I will continue on doing for the rest of my life.

What kind of an artist Atom saw himself?

(Short autobiography written by Atom Hovhanesyan)

NY-based artist since 2009, working primarily in oil and ink. Studied at the Art Students League, National Academy of NY and Grand Central Academy. The traditional choice of materials and medium, grind my own colors. In the abstract works my goal is to create a unified atmosphere and sense of luminosity. Bits and pieces of forms from memory are utilized as building blocks for constructing the composition. There is no narrative or a specific reading, more of an epilogue that's open to interpretation, I'm trying to create a space complex enough and compelling enough to act as a point of departure, while retaining the often accidental mystery and painterly energy.

What Atom wanted to communicate to the viewer through his work?

(From Atom’s notebook)

I believe everyone, at some point in life, accumulates feelings/emotions through a range of experiences that are not only difficult to comprehend fully but are also difficult to keep to oneself. Every person finds their own outlet and way of digesting painful or traumatic memories, errors in life, psychological issues etc. and at times that leads to artistic forms of expression such as music, literature, visual art. In my case I felt I needed to paint, it was at first quite naïve, but one thing was untitled folder unmistakable, it was as if everything settled in to place in my mind and I had finally found something that didn’t need to be forced and that came naturally to me, it took a while for me to find it, but I found it.

Can you explain the process of creating his work?

(From Atom’s notebook)

“Through Division to Expression”

Influenced by post impressionism, with cubist approach to composition, the goal here is to utilize the whole surface of the support challenging the viewer’s perception of negative space. Essentially divisionist, 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.

“Line, Pattern In Chaos” Drawings in ink: Worked with ink with the same approach, because of the fine lines unique to this medium and the texture that arises from multiple built up layers of cross hatched lines allowed me to focus on light and texture and the feel of the drawings ended up being quite different from the paintings. 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.

What was Atom's favorite part of the creative process? Current projects and inspiration, or what we can look forward to from you in the near future?

Atom’s favorite part of the creative process was, (By Atom’s own words) is: the moment, when colors grinded, paints are mixed and ready for use on the pallet, canvas stretched and installed, set of tools fully prepared, then starts magic of Art.

Current project: Participation in upcoming group exhibition at Marziart International Gallery.

From: May 21, 2021 –To: June 16, 2021 Hamburg, Germany.

Website artbyatom.com

Instagram @artbyatomhov