Critics’ Forum
Visual Arts
Sophia Gasparian: Engaging the Art Scene
By Ramela Grigorian Abbamontian
A young emerging talent in the Los Angeles art scene is Sophia
Gasparian (b. 1972), whose presence in the Armenian art scene,
however, has been subdued. The fact may be attributed to her style
(raw, cartoonish, seemingly simple) and materials (spray paint,
grocery bags, stencils, stickers), which have challenged many members
of the community, who tend to ask, "How old is the artist?" or simply
conclude "Well, her colors are interesting," as was overheard by the
author at one of Gasparian’s exhibitions.
Yet Gasparian’s seemingly simple compositions and vibrant colors
engage the viewer and necessitate in return an intentional – an
active – engagement with the image being presented, an exchange ripe
with socio-political implications. A closer look at Gasparian’s work
will demonstrate how its emotional resonance with the viewer helps
create the context and the call to activism that its subjects depict.
Born and raised in what she calls a "country that no longer exists,"
Sophia Gasparian left Soviet Armenia in December of 1987, making her
new home in East Hollywood. Her memories and experiences of living
in Soviet Armenia, which include being (as she puts it) "immersed in
propaganda and confronted by the effects of oppression," inform her
work conceptually. Those experiences sometimes also trickle into
Gasparian’s compositions in the form of characters that once
inhabited the pages of her childhood alphabet books, as in the
painting Let’s Not Chat About Despair.
Even though she received early art training in Yerevan, Armenia, it
was during her training in the United States (B.A. in Theater Arts
with an Emphasis on Film and Video from UC Santa Cruz and M.F.A in
Fine Art Filmmaking from San Francisco Art Institute) that allowed
her to explore her own identity, particularly regarding issues of
cultural dislocation.
These explorations engendered her first installation series "Dia De
Los Muertos: Armenian Genocide 1915" (1999-2003). The series
considered themes such as the Turkish government’s denial of the
Armenian Genocide, Armenians’ responsibility to honor the victims,
and the inexpressible nature of the calamity itself. One poignant
example from the installation is What Have You Done to Assist the
Armenians? (2001), a mixed media painting in which, against the
patchy red semblance of a blood-stained wall, a shoeless orphaned
girl (re-appropriated from Japanese Manga artist Yoshitomo Nara)
locks eyes with the viewer and angrily demands to know the answer to
the question that comprises the painting’s title.
Gasparian’s work asks another, and equally compelling, question: Who
is the viewer? Gasparian could be addressing much of humanity, many
of whom stand by, ignorant and helpless, as mass murders continue to
take place everywhere. Considering the work was created and
exhibited in the United States, however, it might just as easily be
directed at the host country of many Armenians, which has yet to
acknowledge the "massacres" as premeditated genocide. Gasparian
could also be querying her own people, wondering if Armenians –
herself included – have done their part to remember the calamity,
honor its victims, and ensure its recognition.
In all of these instances, Gasparian is clearly calling for a revival
of consciousness and a recommitment to one’s sense of
responsibility. To intensify the urgency of such a call, Gasparian
has incorporated "signifiers" such as the orphan’s shoeless feet and
the life-size knife that inhabits the space behind her – the former
referencing the long distances walked by Armenians during the
deportation and the latter denoting the instrument of genocide, which
in turn points to the Turkish star and crescent. The orphan’s plight
also embodies that of the Armenian nation in the 20th and 21st
centuries, while her determined gaze, directed at all viewers,
reenacts the clear call to action that is at the center of
Gasparian’s work.
"While my previous series addressed the evils of history, my recent
work confronts the evils of society," says Gasparian about the
installation series that followed, entitled "Confronting the Face of
Evil" (2005-06). The series explores issues such as ethnocentrism,
racism, sexism, violence, feminism, abuse, and the obsession with
body image, as in the painting Fat & Ugly (2006), where the young
girl – neither fat nor ugly according to today’s standards – stands
with downcast eyes and forlorn expression amidst the junk food
dancing idly and temptingly around her.
Her two most recent series (both of which are in-progress) are
entitled "Triumph" and "Celebration," because Gasparian believes they
aptly "follow sorrow/grief and confrontation/resolution." It
appears that in these series, Gasparian has transcended the pain of
the past and the problems of the present and instead offers viewers a
vision of the simple pleasures of the present along with the subtle
promise of the future. The young characters who had in the earlier
works suffered persecution and were subject to harsh societal
expectations have now been transformed into self-sufficient
individuals "exercising their rights and enjoying being alive." For
example, the young girl in Girl with Piggy Bank (from the Triumph
series) optimistically considers her future by purposefully, in fact
quite literally, saving money for it.
As its title conveys, the "Celebration" series, when complete, will
celebrate each month of the year by focusing on an astereotypical
signifier relevant to that month. For example, Miss October is
identified by a persimmon tree ripe with fruit rather than the more
common Halloween costume or pumpkin patch. Other characters in the
series include the wryly titled "Miss Genocide" and "Miss Cherry
Blossoms". In this way, Gasparian’s characteristically
unconventional approach reconstructs the calendar cycle from a fresh,
sometimes ironic, perspective that once again engages viewers, in
perhaps discovering similar moments of celebration available to them.
Gasparian’s perception of her role as an artist, in her own words,
has to do more with engaging and activating the viewer’s emotions
than with activism per se:
While human rights, ethnic dislocation, social identity and women’s
progress form my everyday thinking and influence my art, I do not
consider myself an art activist. My intention with each painting is
to trigger an emotional reaction and alter the perspective of the
viewer through illustration of a personal viewpoint. I simply strive
to illustrate subjects that interest me.
But in illustrating socio-political issues and aiming to "alter the
perspective of the viewer," it may well be argued that Gasparian is
inherently, if unwillingly, assuming the role of art activist. In
fact, one might say that art’s agency alone renders it activist in
society. Therefore, while Gasparian rejects the label, her inclusion
of questions or other text in the works and her desire to create a
dialogue with the viewers allow her works to effect change, or at
least present the opportunity for it. By engaging viewer’s emotions,
Gasparian’s unconventional pieces have the potential to raise
awareness, ignite self-reflection, and even spur the viewer to action.
Gasparian’s work can be found in the private collections of many
individuals well-known in the art scene, including Dahlia Elsayed,
Sam McCay, and Joan Agajanian Quinn. Her poster of Miss Genocide is
archived at the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Venice,
California. Gasparian’s work has also been featured in a number of
galleries and exhibitions in Southern California, including Cactus
Gallery (Eagle Rock), Arroyo Arts Collective (Highland Park), Avenue
50 Studio (Highland Park), and Gallery 825 (West Hollywood), to name
only a few.
All Rights Reserved: Critics’ Forum, 2008. Exclusive to the Armenian
Reporter.
Ramela Grigorian Abbamontian is an Assistant Professor of Art History
at Pierce College. She is also a PhD candidate in Art History at
UCLA.
You can reach her or any of the other contributors to Critics’ Forum
at [email protected]. This and all other articles published
in this series are available online at To sign
up for a weekly electronic version of new articles, go to
Critics’ Forum is a group created to
discuss issues relating to Armenian art and culture in the Diaspora.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
