Visual Arts Library
Crucifixion
Artist: Paul Guiragossian
Date:
1961
Medium: Mixed media on paper
Dimensions: n.a.
Event: Armenian Genocide
Motif:
Violence
With Guiragossian, one is overwhelmed by the richness of his expression and the massive production that his obsession with the past and absence has generated. His works express the human condition through renderings of vertical, elongated, purged bodies, both static and in motion, painted with thick layers of often very luminous colors.
The life cycle, punctuated by unforgettable moments which rally the individual from within the context of the group, constantly contrasts the permanence of the group to the impermanence of the individual. With this philosophy, Guiragossian viewed history as an endless succession of looting, wars, catastrophes, massacres, ruination, and injustice. The individual, as alone, unarmed, vulnerable, and constantly under menace, is the sacrificial victim already designated as such by the group. This theme of tainted or illusory freedom and happiness permeates Guiragossian's paintings.
As Guiragossian celebrates birth, death approaches and perches on the cradle; as he celebrates a moment of bright happiness, a somber pain approaches; as the bride puts on her white bridal veil, a shadowy acquaintance becomes bound to her. If he paints friendship, peace, or tenderness, it is only by demonstrating their fragility and cost. When evoking them he conjures up their inevitable end. If his figures cling to one another so closely that they seem to interpenetrate, it is because they know that the separation, the absence, the solitude that they vaguely fear will come all too soon.
--Dickran Kouymjian
Credits: Cilician Museum, Armenian Catholicosate, Antelias, Lebanon.
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