2009
Of Flame and Splendour
February 29 - April 9, 2009
Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York, NY
Excerpt from press release:
In this body of work, Aram is working within a familiar lexicon but the process of painting pushes the imagery out of the realm of objectivity. This step toward abstraction is not necessarily in opposition to representation, but also an abstraction of ideas, signs and signifiers. The iconography in these paintings relates sometimes directly and sometimes obliquely to the iconography of the world in which we live. By creating a parallel universe in which the artist investigates these themes, he is able to challenge the anticipated significance of the iconography with which we are familiar.
Also on view in the exhibition are drawings from the series Mystical Visions and Cosmic Vibrations (begun in 2004), which takes its title from a line in Allen Ginsberg's America. Ginsberg and many poets and artists of his time had a sincere, nevertheless Orientalist fascination with Eastern cultures and religions. In the most recent drawings from this series, Aram often portrays bearded men in turbans: the Mullah (religious scholar) or the Sufi mystic. In the West, these figures are commonly identified as symbols of religious extremism and radical politics. However, like Ginsberg and his peers, some idealize these figures as a source of spiritual wealth. In both his paintings and drawings, Aram engages with the complexity of these relationships and challenges the convenient divisions of East versus West.
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