Andranik Aroutiounian

Andranik Aroutiounian is our featured artist for May 5-11, 2021. We will feature a new artist of the Babel Masks Ad-Hoc Collective each week.

About the Artist

Andranik Aroutiounian, an internationally acclaimed artist, lives and works in New York. His preferred media are painting, sculpture, and drawing. He earned his BA and his MFA at the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-arts de Genève, Switzerland. Recent awards include the Impossible Sites Artist Award from the Black Cube Nomadic Contemporary Art Museum and the Willem de Kooning Academy Fellowship for Painting

10 questions

1. When working on this mask prototype, you drew inspiration from the sea and from the protective shells of sea creatures. In what other ways has the motif of the sea influenced your work?

I find it very inspiring whenever I’m by the sea and I’ve made specific series of works influenced by the whole feeling of being by the sea…the sounds, sand, heat, breeze, sun, odor, and all the vegetation…just to be there is inspiring in itself.

For the mask, I drew inspiration from the deep blue color of the sea and sky, the form (both the shape of a shell but also referencing the shape of waves), the pattern and texture (of shells or coral), and as you mentioned, the concept of a mask being protective in the way that a shell is for a sea creature. My father had a collection of shells including a huge Lobatus from the Indian Ocean which I remember so clearly from my childhood.

2. You mention in your artist’s bio that you work in sculpture, but also in painting and drawing. Looking at your paintings on your blog, there is a highly atmospheric quality to these images and emphasis on materials – paint and support. Can you talk about the evolution of your painting?

I have been painting as long as I remember, so I guess the painting has evolved with me. My work changes in response to my surroundings and experiences. For a long time, I lived where nature dominated, surrounded by mountains, lakes and greenery, with its slow pace, and I certainly see that reflected in the paintings from that time. Since living in New York City, it’s the opposite, with the compact urban environment and the constant movement of the city. Here time seems to go faster and it’s very loud and high energy. Reflection of snow off of mountains is so different than the reflections of glass off an ultra-modern skyscraper. It’s two different “landscapes” where one experiences time differently. This comes out in the paintings, thus the highly atmospheric quality you noted.

3. Do you ever find that your sensibility of one media informs another? Do you think it is possible to draw a sculpture, or paint a drawing, or sculpt a painting?

Yes, absolutely one informs the other, and yes, they are all possible.  I often work back and forth between 2D and 3D and then back again.  Moving between media gives me ideas and influences the next thing. The practice is all the same- it’s just the materials that change.

4. What artistic movements have informed your work? Do you find influences in arenas apart from the plastic arts, such as musicians, composers, philosophers, or writers?

The specifics depend on the project I’m working on at the time, but in general, as a painter, the Italian Renaissance and Baroque periods, German Expressionism, and Abstract Expressionism are probably the greatest influences. Being in New York City now, certainly Pop Art and all forms of Contemporary Art inform my work too.

In terms of areas of influence outside of fine art, I would say philosophers in the way I am thinking, musicians in how I feel, and writers in the way I build the work. Specifically, Greek mythology and historical figures such Archimedes have been the subject in recent projects.

5. What is the story of your origin as an artist? How old were you, and what lit the fire for you?

I was born into a family surrounded by art and art books, so my interest in art came from my parents. We lived in Madagascar for a while when I was a child, because my father was a visiting professor there.  I started to paint in Madagascar. I was probably about 5 years old. My parents and older sister had a lot of artist friends and they were always hanging around. That and the neighborhood where I grew up was full of artists’ studios. So art was always around.

6. How has the pandemic affected your practice and your artistic community? What developments are you seeing take place, and do you think some of the innovations will remain after the threat of the virus is past?

In the worst of it, when everything was locked down, it was a big change because I could only  work at home. So I mainly did small drawings and small sculptures with very simple materials. For a long time, most museums or galleries were closed, so there was less of a community because no one was going to shows or openings. This did allow for very focused studio work and time to be more self-reflective. One other positive development has been that venues and communities shifted from being local to global as things moved online and I’m sure much of that will remain. It’s affected content in artwork and exhibitions too, such as the Babel Mask exhibition, for instance. This project is a great example of how this collective experience has become content for shows and brought people around the world together to work on projects. 

This past year has changed the content in my work. Like most of us, one of the only things to do was take long walks- I made a series of paintings inspired by my daily walks in the city. (the most recent post on my blog).

7. What is next for you in your exhibition work? What projects are on the horizon for you?

The next upcoming exhibition I am is “Geometric Gestures” at Dodomu Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. I have been fortunate that I still had a lot of exhibitions and projects during Covid, though some were postponed due to museum/gallery closings or restrictions, so I am hoping they will come to fruition in the next year or two.

I’m currently preparing a series of paintings and working on some new ideas that are a mix of Baroque influences but with a digital sensibility. We’ll see where this project goes…

8. You mention in your statement that you lived in Madagascar as a child. Do you find the environment and atmosphere of Madagascar as an influence on your work or your practice? 

Yes. The sensations of natural surroundings linger and find their way back into one’s work. 

Madagascar is such an exceptional place . . . the vibrant colors, the flora and fauna that you don’t see anywhere else. I had a chameleon as a pet and lemurs would wander into the courtyard! There was a particular cactus that would bloom once a year just for one night, and trees that have  red leaves that emit a white milk when cracked open. I still have vivid memories of the sunsets with screeching animals in the backdrop. I was a young child, but the sensations remain to this day and still appear in my work.

9. Are there certain teachers or figures who have had a profound influence on you? Can you recall moments of sharp inflection that changed the way you think about art in general, and about your practice in particular?

As I said before, my parents and their artist friends had the greatest influence on me, because they encouraged me and exposed me to art at such a young age. The biggest influencers weren’t as much teachers but friends of my father and sister, and also students of my mother, who were artists…I remember going to their studios and seeing their paintings and drawings, and this influenced me to start to draw.

Certainly the first time I came to NYC was a big moment… besides the pulse of the city in general, the art possibilities are so much greater than many places. Those first experiences in museums and galleries were important, though it’s an ongoing education since the exhibitions are always changing. There’s always something new to see, and often with it, a new perspective or shift in my practice.

10. What advice would you offer to an artist who is just beginning to learn? What do you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?

I would say to work a lot, try to read about the history of art, and see as much art as possible. I was very fortunate to have supportive people around me and everything has worked out well, so I’d say seek out positive, supportive people when you are starting out.