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Lot Essay
A trajectory of Modern master Paul Guiragossian's oeuvre conveys an evolution of a highly influenced body of work that not only responds and is limited to the region's historical context but one that engages with the Postmodern occupation with notions of identity, and 'the other'.
His art has been heavily impacted by the dislocation and migration of his family. Born in Jerusalem to survivors of the Armenian genocide, Guiragoissian was educated in Catholic institutions eventually serving as an apprentice to several Italian icon painters. Following the fall of Palestine in 1948 Guiragossian's family left for Lebanon in the late 1940s, where he remained until his death.
From his early academic canvases until his later abstract compositions, Guiragossian's work reflects a relentless struggle to summon the images of his formative years and actively draws on his heritage and migratory experience for inspiration.
L'Exode painted in the late 1960s, is one of the most spectacular canvases that captures the artist's personal world, a world in which disinherited Palestinians shared Armenian destitution, in a constant state of flux. Drawing from a palette of warm light yellow, green and orange hues, his sense of abstraction, exemplified by vigorous slashes of paint drips with a repertoire of Christian iconography, no doubt is a nod to his Catholic upbringing. The recurring theme of exodus and exile serves as a direct reference to the Bible and ironically recalls the exodus of the Israelites who in turn were eventually responsible for Guiragossian and the Palestinian's displacement. By dwelling persistently on this and other themes of hardship, Guiragossian would thus use his paintings and compositions as a way to provide commentary on social and political affairs.
The emergence of thick brushstrokes within the composition of a mother figure standing by what appears to be a child and several belongings on a cart serves two purposes; first it offers a sense of movement that exemplifies the subject matter which in itself represents movement and a journey. As suggested by the title, L'Exode implies a sense of the pain and suffering of being forced into flight, which in the present work is epitomised by the circular movement of the artist's brushwork. Secondly, it shows the artist's natural progression and stylistic change towards abstraction, stepping away from the figurative protagonists of his early works, into what would eventually be completely abstract lines of colour. In turn, this initial reduction of highly detailed compositions served to reduce his main subjects into simple albeit powerful elements in a manner that could effectively be described as essentialist. The underlying emotion the artist alludes to - that mixture of despair and surrender, which an exodus connotes - is not rendered by recognisable shapes, but rather infused into the canvas by the curving mass of several figures with their belongings huddled together within the confines of the canvas.
This distinguishing element, the amalgamation of figures that he projects onto this work clustered into a collective body, offers an element of hope and comfort in finding protection and intimacy from a group in the midst of isolation, a consequence of the perpetual pain of living a constant exodus. Thus, although it speaks of eternal suffering, it offers a shimmer of optimism that renders L'Exode simultaneously challenging and endearing.
His art has been heavily impacted by the dislocation and migration of his family. Born in Jerusalem to survivors of the Armenian genocide, Guiragoissian was educated in Catholic institutions eventually serving as an apprentice to several Italian icon painters. Following the fall of Palestine in 1948 Guiragossian's family left for Lebanon in the late 1940s, where he remained until his death.
From his early academic canvases until his later abstract compositions, Guiragossian's work reflects a relentless struggle to summon the images of his formative years and actively draws on his heritage and migratory experience for inspiration.
L'Exode painted in the late 1960s, is one of the most spectacular canvases that captures the artist's personal world, a world in which disinherited Palestinians shared Armenian destitution, in a constant state of flux. Drawing from a palette of warm light yellow, green and orange hues, his sense of abstraction, exemplified by vigorous slashes of paint drips with a repertoire of Christian iconography, no doubt is a nod to his Catholic upbringing. The recurring theme of exodus and exile serves as a direct reference to the Bible and ironically recalls the exodus of the Israelites who in turn were eventually responsible for Guiragossian and the Palestinian's displacement. By dwelling persistently on this and other themes of hardship, Guiragossian would thus use his paintings and compositions as a way to provide commentary on social and political affairs.
The emergence of thick brushstrokes within the composition of a mother figure standing by what appears to be a child and several belongings on a cart serves two purposes; first it offers a sense of movement that exemplifies the subject matter which in itself represents movement and a journey. As suggested by the title, L'Exode implies a sense of the pain and suffering of being forced into flight, which in the present work is epitomised by the circular movement of the artist's brushwork. Secondly, it shows the artist's natural progression and stylistic change towards abstraction, stepping away from the figurative protagonists of his early works, into what would eventually be completely abstract lines of colour. In turn, this initial reduction of highly detailed compositions served to reduce his main subjects into simple albeit powerful elements in a manner that could effectively be described as essentialist. The underlying emotion the artist alludes to - that mixture of despair and surrender, which an exodus connotes - is not rendered by recognisable shapes, but rather infused into the canvas by the curving mass of several figures with their belongings huddled together within the confines of the canvas.
This distinguishing element, the amalgamation of figures that he projects onto this work clustered into a collective body, offers an element of hope and comfort in finding protection and intimacy from a group in the midst of isolation, a consequence of the perpetual pain of living a constant exodus. Thus, although it speaks of eternal suffering, it offers a shimmer of optimism that renders L'Exode simultaneously challenging and endearing.