Subconscious vs Self-conscious

ATOM HOVHANESYAN

“Through Divisionism to Expression” Post-Impressionist, Cubist, Futurist, and Abstract Expressionist’s color theory, optics, and composition heavily influenced my Post Divisionist style and technique. I developed and refined my Post Divisionist style and technique in a series of paintings of women and landscapes. My goal was to utilize the entire surface of the canvas to challenge the viewer’s perception of negative space while borrowing from the Cubist approach to composition. Figures and forms are woven into the fabric of the plane so that space warps into figures and form. The juxtaposition of complimentary colors of thinly applied brushstrokes, over each other, creates a mesh-like pattern, so that figures rise or recede, at times becoming almost invisible. In the painting process, repetitive crosshatching allows the subconscious to direct the composition, creating tension between the desire to hide vs the need to reveal, conflict between subconscious and self-conscious arises. The eye creates a path as it views and moves through the painting and the subconscious and conscious mind detects bits and pieces of thoughts, emotions and or memories that become a unified epilogue that’s open to interpretation. Working with ink, in the same technique and style as my Post Divisionist paintings, multiple layers of crosshatching creates a play between light and texture. The seemingly chaotic use of crosshatched lines is intentional, like the Impressionist’s use of ink, while surreal and symbolic.