Karen Ohanyan's Sevan series of canvases is one of those exceptional bodies of work that carries and records the weightiest missions of different times in art. By reaffirming the artist as a great intellectual, this series of the painter's is a record of the most important questions of new realities and new times. It is as though the monument of art, forgotten for decades, has finally been restored, and painting, after decades of being feeble, is once again standing at its full greatness. This revolution is no longer a possibility but a reality, and we who carry within our spirit the pain of new times, and the opposition arising from it — the utopian vision — have no need of records or articles. But given the utterly mired state of art and art criticism, we consider it very important to put this into words, and thereby once again record the dawn of these new times. In this case, I can proudly say that this piece is written in the name of the vanguard of new times, who, having long been purposefully working to make today the beginning of a new future, today already have support in the person of Karen Ohanyan, to record new realities, and to confidently call themselves the vanguard of new times. In this respect, the Sevan exhibition is exceptional. Here there can no longer be any ambiguity, and it is precisely as a result of this that we boldly say that new times have indeed come, that we are living in new realities, which are laid out in this piece.

First, let us understand Karen Ohanyan by looking at the Sevan series as the logical continuation of his painterly biography as we know it. Painting, as a visual art, and thereby one of the most important tools in shaping a utopian vision, seems to have been devalued for a long time, and for decades now, by rejecting the possibility of society-system harmony, has been minimized into an institution for consoling personal or individual pains and problems, for forming self-deceptions. Of course, in fairness it must be noted that recently, cries for the formation of a new wave have been sounding in the art world, from various individuals who, having reached a point of acceptance by this institution, speak in the language of color, line, form — of aesthetics — trying to contribute to the process of rebuilding universal human values, thereby at least somewhat restoring art as a platform, or so to speak a workshop, for recording universal human thought. However, we believe that these artists' efforts, much appreciated on our part, remain as a dream, and reach us as an inaudible cry from the abyss built by this system. This is, of course, a consequence of their trajectory, or of a tolerant attitude toward these recorded, unacceptable realities. Of course, one could speak at length of our sisters and brothers, showing their importance to us. But so as not to devalue this piece with our own personal matters, we must conclude this topic by saying: we are with you, and we will be happy to see you with us, in the context of newly created realities and institutions yet to be created.

In the end, why does Karen Ohanyan matter?

By rejecting the institutions and value systems known to today's art world, Karen Ohanyan seems to have created his painterly self by relating only to the times beginning with the Renaissance and ending with the avant-garde, carrying those times upon himself — and it is very important to stress that, carrying only the values of the most important revolutions of those times, the painter has created a painterly trajectory that cannot, at any point, fail to be acceptable from the standpoint of the classical tradition of art. By freeing himself of the self, and carrying within him universal human values and sincerity, in Karen Ohanyan's early periods one can see the most important records of the universal human pain of society in our times. By rejecting the reality of the self, the painter has recorded that realities built over centuries have no right to be dead, that they live on, first of all within his own spirit. Of course, the context of that pain is also very important, which — unlike the common approach of contemporary art — is not material and worldly, but aesthetic and emotional. In the end, it must be recorded that materiality is important only as a means of securing vital needs; beyond that, all questions are ultimately about aesthetics, color, line, and form. The ordinary problems present in society, in individual-individual, individual-society, or individual-system relationships, which are the main themes of contemporary art, are merely the consequence of a defectiveness of thought, and the artist, by speaking of them as a problem rather than a consequence, while being a vanguard fighter in the utopia-dystopia struggle, distorts our real, great problems, showing tolerance toward them, and treating them as irreversible realities.

Dividing it into parts, we can say that the painter has, up to now, been distinguished by three periods. In the early period, by recording problems with the whole monument of painterly aesthetic thought, he also built a platform of thought, which is undoubtedly a painterly grandeur carrying the human-god relationship and comparison. Thus his second period, already on this platform, is a stage of building a dream, a utopian aesthetic — or rather, it would be more correct to say, of concluding dreams built in different times, previously. It is in this context that his  “Real Utopias”  series is known. Thus the painter, speaking of society's human-nature, human-god relational problems, and having recorded a platform of thought acceptable and true to him, continues on his path, speaking from that same platform — from the context of truth — about the dream. Of course, this is very important, given the recent regression of the dream-human relationship. From the standpoint of constructive utopianism, Karen Ohanyan's painterly trajectory is simple yet unspeakably productive. It can be understood through the formula problem-dream-solution. Of course, it is very important to understand that in this case, the solution is not only at the end, but has been there from the very beginning; this is precisely what constitutes the divine painterly grandeur, the aesthetic sincerity, the aesthetic thought — because all questions are resolved right there where we recognize our own sincerity. In this respect, the painter's trajectory is merely a material manifestation, and time, life, body within materiality, meaning, speech, perception within materiality — these records are only possible in sequence, point by point. But the pinnacle of greatness and truthfulness lies precisely in the formula Karen Ohanyan uses: to speak, from the platform of the solution, about the problem, the dream, and the solution alike. It is important to understand that the solution is in one place, on the platform of aesthetic cognition and emotional sincerity, and Karen Ohanyan's periods, in a constructive sense, make this truth recognizable point by point.

And Karen Ohanyan's latest period, with the Sevan series, is, in the end, the most important and central part of this piece.

It is important to note that, unlike the first two periods, the third is the final record of new times, and in itself the beginning of a new, long-term revolutionary cycle. Thus it is distinguished from the first two not only as a period, but also from the standpoint of the very perception and scope of the word “period.”

This period of Karen Ohanyan's is no longer a search, no longer something that shapes or proves the comprehensibility of truth — it records. It is no longer hesitation, but reality, a bold and final resolve, saying that yes, here is the truth, here is the future, and we are now speaking not from your perception, but from the platform of our sincerity. This period clearly records that there is no present, no past, no future — there is one thing, utopia, which is now irreversible, beyond discussion. In the end, times have begun from which only the ideal flows; the times of doubt and searching have already passed, and this new time of final construction, of the final shaping of paradise, has come.

The Sevan series is undoubtedly paradise, undoubtedly an absolute manifestation of utopianism. The beauty of the canvases lies in their idealism. It is purely an aesthetic conversation, in which the painter is finally with the divinity of the future, freeing himself from the reality of the primitiveness, individualism, and selfish self-defense that are known and dominant in contemporary times. In the end, the painter speaks from the height of the human-aesthetics- divinity relationship, finally freeing his platform of thought from the chaos weighing upon us.

But what does this piece — of a new, and already the only true, language of thought — say?

While simultaneously recording the irreversibility of utopia, foretelling paradise regardless of everything, Karen Ohanyan poses a great question — no longer about whether utopia can or cannot be, but about its form.

In the end, accepting this paradisiacal world as an ideal, recognizing an irreversible utopianism — is this the paradise we strive for? Without man, without breath, without life — a paradise where any human existence would be a manifestation of mockery, a paradise so firmly standing that, in the end, it is more than nature itself, or than the foundational basis of our human origins. A paradise where we lose to our own realities, and, paranoid as a result of our own feelings, renounce ourselves, renounce the true bond between man and nature. Is this the paradise we are ready to agree to, the one for which we are ready to be vanguard fighters, standing firm and bold — is this that reality, is this where we renounce our vision of the happiness flowing from the primal source of our existence, our most sincere dreams?

This is a question about the future, and the present; this seems to be the consequence of the future that we are building with our current realities. Are we going to continue failing to withstand pain, failing to love, to respect, to accept one another; have we chosen this easy path of self-deception, where we are deceived by ourselves, where our sincerity is false, where we prefer to renounce love in order to avoid pain — or are we perhaps ready to go through pain, to struggle, to not renounce ourselves, the foundations of our existence, the beauty of the human-nature bond? Have we already lost, do we consider ourselves defeated and taken captive by this chaos, are we surrendering to this universal weakness — destroying, destroying beauty, destroying the reality that promises us a real paradise, building instead an illusion, destroying everything, moving toward the first, most ordinary and easy, cold and unfeeling version of this paradise?

By raising this most important question, Karen Ohanyan has, at the same time, answered it, within these surreal, paradisiacal landscapes, leaving us no option other than to renounce our own reality, calmly showing the path along which we must swim within this aesthetic vision — ultimately refusing to give his last canvas a logical conclusion, thereby opposing this reality, thereby recording his faith, his decision not to surrender.

The questions raised have one answer: no, this is not that paradise, but this platform undoubtedly holds the only opportunity to correct our mistakes. Our problems are now here, and it is here that the solutions must also be found. The simple thinking of short-term changes, characteristic of modern man, is no longer effective; the present is now simply what it is, and in the end, all our questions concern the future.

Karen Ohanyan has declared struggle, war, with this series of canvases. This becomes even more evident in two particular works from the series of portraits following  “Sevan”  — the portrait  “Self-Portrait in Front of the Easel”  and  “The Dreamer's Knife”  portrait. In the end, these two works say that we accept the challenge, and move toward victories, because wherever you offer us such a paradise, we turn it over, tear it down, and stand our ground — before the easel, with a fist and a flag, or with the revolutionary red star on our chest, with a knife, with the resolve of struggle, and with the smile of victory, without violence, because the fist is, in the end, bound up with aesthetic reality — with painting; a fist against ourselves, our own anger, our own reality, our self-hood — our defeat, our mirror, our self-portrait, where our struggle lies; and of course, because our knife does not pierce — our knife is gentle, a knife for bread, cheese, and butter, at worst a knife for a slap.

We record struggle, movement, toward a utopian reality with foundational harmony in soul-human-nature relationships. We record that, taking upon ourselves the universal human burden of the vanguard fighter, we are ready to happily share it with all of you, thereby recording our coming victories.

Viva Revolution!