About the Artist
SHORT AUTOBIOGRAPHY:
First & Last Name: Robert Martirosjan Nickname: Gabri Date & Place of Birth: 08/08/1961 Yerevan, Armenia Nationality / Citizenship: Armenian / Lithuanian 1968 – 1972 Primary School 1972 – 1976 Secondary School 1975 – 1979 Vocational – Technical School #25. Qualification of Glass article engraver. 1988 – 1995 Yerevan State Arts Institute. (Majored in Sculpture)
LIST OF THE PAST EXHIBITIONS:
1988 – 1990 Students exhibition in Yerevan. August of 1993 At International Sculpture Symposium of Lithuania. April of 1995 Gallery “Arka”, Vilnius, Lithuania. July of 1996 Gallery “L’Eclectique”, Paris, France. June of 1998 Gallery “Art Present”, Paris, France. November of 1998 Gallery “Mazoji galerija”, Vilnius, Lithuania. March of 2000 In Lithuanian National Commission for UNESCO. July of 2005 Gallery “AGORA”, New York, USA. Gabri’s paintings and sculptures are sold to museums and private collectors in Germany, USA, Russia, Macedonia, France, UK, Latvia, Sweden and Canada.
GABRI — PAINTING WITH NERVES:
On 10th of March, when the official events for the 10th anniversary of the restored Independence have already started, exhibition of sculpture and painting of Robertas Martirosjanas Gabri was opened in the exhibition hall of the National UNESCO Commission. Probably due to the improperly chosen date for opening the exhibition, this event was skipped by the omniscient eyes of the permanent visitors of galleries and exhibitions. And very unfortunately, because this exhibition was one of the more distinct events in tile general context of Vilnius’ art life of a few previous years. R. Martirosjanas, a graduate of Yerevan Institute of Art, already for a few years is living and creating in Lithuania, is a citizen of Lithuania, for our of art, however, his works could become a really pleasant surprise, for they are evidently different from works of the Lithuanian artists.
The first tiling that one notices when looking at the works of R. Martirosjanas is the purity of colors and respect for the form. It’s not accidental that his main field is sculpture. Clear, vivid and subtly nuanced colors and careful shading eventually create an impression of three-dimensional image, they transfer spectators to a world of fairytales, of unreal and sometimes surrealistic imagery. But this is not the bright and playful fairy-tale, this is not the spontaneous play of tropic colors.
There evidently is some decorative element in the canvases of R. Martirosjanas, but it would be too bold to state that it is the alpha and omega of his painting. Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures, bizarrely interwoven among themselves, seem to fight not only one with another but each with oneself as well, as if they strive to escape from the binding forms, to free themselves. Thus a stress between the carnival-like play of colors and the meaning of the “text” of the painting is created. This is the “serious” side of the painting, but it is not without grotesque and irony, which are especially visible in the precise, almost realistic portraits of women – “Emma”, “Suzi”, “Kristina”, etc. Little copies of these latter could be a perfect present to ladies who are too happy with themselves and “solve” all the problems easily.
Historians of art, who will some day analyze the painting of R. Martirosjanas, most probably will note the hints to Dali, Braque and Picasso. But even if these painters are really the teachers of this Lithuanian artist of Armenian origin, we can only be glad that he has chosen a good team.
Some time ago Jonas Aistis was upset with the fact that there is too much ink in poetry, and too little blood. Probably you will not feel the taste of blood in paintings of R. Martirosjanas, but, provided that you look well, you will surely see a live nerve of creation pulsing.
Brunonas Niunka
