HRATCH ISRAELIAN
Born in Soviet Armenia 1956. In 1972 he Pioneered this Painting Process. Lives and works in LA since 1980.
In societies that had enormous amount of censorship and repression, art was the last resort and refuge for self-expression. Art even became a tool of effective resistance against the repression and tyranny. Artists exhibit courage by rejecting conformity.
Modernism in the west is treated as its official culture but the Soviet Union beat Modern art into submission, allowing only Social Realism to survive.
However, these paintings are the antithesis of Social Realism and the conformity it represents. They are not only symbolically modern but act as the actual fingerprints of the modernism. All 115 paintings have been in contact with pivotal posts of modern history. The back of every piece stamped, “The USSR Ministry of Culture gives permission to Export.”
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What is Modern Art?
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A question that puzzles many of us.
In the name of modern art, artists tried everything and it’s opposite; creating more questions than answers.
Can we today find that answer in the digital world? Since digital sculpting unfolds a technical renaissance around us.
How about digital Painting?
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In digital world higher quality picture means a larger digital file and a larger digital file means slow traffic. It’s obvious that speed, size, and quality cancel each other out, even in digital images.
What does all this have to do with Modern art?
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Modern Art came out of Modernity, and Modernity came out of technological transformations, which stands on the balance of four pillars: production speed, quality, cost, and size.
Can we create the modern brush for modern painting? A brush that has the essence of Modernism? A painting process which produce maximum speed, size and quality, with minimal cost and labor? Something that cameras and computers have not yet achieved?
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Yes, we can. You are looking at it.
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Albert Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
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We devote a great part of our lives to gaining knowledge, while simultaneously neglecting our imagination . We were never taught how to use our imagination, and the repetition and banality of modern life gradually deactivates our imagination. However, imagination is still the only thing in us that is infinite. Our life, energy, and knowledge are limited; therefore we need to unlock our limitless imagination and set it in motion.
How can we activate our imagination?
Well, let’s imagine that everyone has a brand new car parked in their driveway but they don’t have the key. Although the cars can travel for thousands of miles, they can’t move an inch because there is no key. Not only do we all need a key, we need the right key that will activate our specific car. Either that or a bump key, a key that can open any lock.
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This revolutionary painting method is the bump key to everyone’s imagination. Now all can discover the key of their imagination and become an accomplished artist. Everyone from age 4 to 104 can master this painting process in 20 minutes and paint a great artworks without physical and psychological discomfort. All the outsiders of the art community, can become insiders and enjoy the creative process.
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Painting with this method is not only pleasant, but also stimulates our imagination by creating images at the same synchronized speed with our imagination; We can become astronauts in our own head, constantly exploring new territories. The active imagination can transform all other facades of our lives, we can make the mundane more enjoyable if we apply our imagination to it.
Imagine you can be, do, and have whatever you want. What would that be like? Dose our physical existence gives us that kind of freedom? In a world where everything and everyone deteriorates, nothing is worse than letting our infinite imaginations go to waste. The best way to stimulate our imagination is to synchronize the painting process with our imagination.
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How to paint is just as important as what to paint. Because the painting is an extremely limited medium of expression. It does not narrate as well as other art forms. Also, it’s pretentious to leave it void of any content and claim that is necessary art of our time.
What is the essence of painting these days? And, how does one deal with it? The big question ‘what to say?’ has less creative room than the question ‘how to say?’ Because the massage changes depending how it’s delivered. And how does one deliver a massage with the bits of paint that competes with magical technologies of our time?
Here is how…
Let us invite the tree of the most sophisticated practitioners of digital painting who master the latest and best software and also the three of the most successful artists in the world. Let them unite their forces together. They also can bring hundreds of assistants along with their state of the art equipment to compete with you. And you only have 30 minutes to become an expert in this painting technique. After those 30 minutes, I guarantee you that in this showdown they cannot possibly win. You will show up with no tools in your hand, while they carry their heavy equipment. Even in your pockets, there will be nothing. But you will be armed and dangerous, having only paint and paper to create your masterpiece. You will beat them in quality, cost, size and speed.