fragment #7 Print

Garik Yengibaryan's first career had nothing to do with art. Before devoting his time to art he was a specialist in international law.But he decided to change his boring office job in a more creative and more profitable work of a jeweler. He quit his job and started working in a jewelry manufacturing factory. Yet he still felt something was lacking in his life. Among his friends was a lot of artists, influenced by them he begins to paint and study art. He made drawings and paintings, but in the beginning it was just a hobby for him. He went full force into acquiring the skills he needed to convey his messages; gradually his hobby became more serious. Yengibaryan's main goal is to use art to explain social issues. He says art is not "mystical", it should be close to the mass a form that the simple person can touch. With this goal in mind he has focused on a number of media, most importantly: street art. He has collaborated on a number of works on walls around Yerevan. He uses the street art to explain social issues. He brings the art to the people instead of expecting them to come into a gallery to see his creations. These "unsanctioned" interventions are a way of leaving their mark and message and taking back into the hands of the people.The March 1st protests in 2008 are an important point for him. It showed him how it is important participation in the political process and civic activity. It's only natural that as an expert in law he could combine his former education with is creative nature to express the importance of justice in the political process.In the series of paintings called "Fragments" he addresses the imageof humans trying to free themselves from pre-determined social roles, past history and the pre-destined future. It's a means to create segments that are a link between the figurative and abstract. The message to show uncertainly and to allow the viewer to imagine a figure that he/she can identify with. It's a way of pulling the viewer away from the feelings of alienation and uncertainty. It allows the viewer to accept the paintings on their own terms and not the terms of art experts. This technique comes from his younger days. As a child he would flip through books on Renaissance art. What always peaked his interest were the details and not the whole of the painting. Yengibaryan graduated with a law degree from the Gladzor University in 1997 and received his formal art training at home himself. Asieh Nassehi Javan