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Hratch Israelian
Hratch Israelian was born in Armenia in 1956. In 1972 he pioneered a creative technique which he calls “the Painting Process.” It is a painting technique that creates photographic accuracy and 3D depth. Since 1980 he lives and works in the Los Angeles area.
The 20th century began with technological transformations, which sparked the spirit of modernity. However, while modern painting evolved to adjust itself with the dynamics of the time, the processes of painting remained technically unchallenged and unchanged throughout the century.
The last technical innovations in the history of painting occurred 600 years ago. Back then, in the absence of camera and electronic communication, painting was the main generator of social symbols broadening peoples’ horizons. Paintings were used to give moral guidance and teach the masses how to live within the world. Art was an expression of new ideas and values in an easily understandable visual form.
The cultural landscape of the 20th century has been molded by innovations whose origins began with the Industrial Revolution and its fingerprints have been firmly stamped on the painting process. For the past 160 years, developments stemming from the outcome of the Industrial Revolution have given us tools with vast potential to shape our modern lives. We are still reaping the practical benefits and learning to exploit to advantage the resources it has allowed us to harness. With the Industrial Revolution, among the new discoveries, production methods and technologies we were also able to change the processes of painting.
For the past few decades art electronic technology has brought us even further. Armed with cameras and computers, 21st century artists create new types of masterpieces, reinventing the painting process once again.
Are the guiding economic and aesthetic principals of art the same?
If yes, how does the artist who creates with a real, viscous, tangible medium like paint compete with the limitless possibilities afforded by the magical powerful technologies of our time?
Great contemporary painters must rise to this challenge. Can the old methods for the painting process produce images of the same unlimited scale in imagination, quality and size as those produced with cameras and computers? No, they cannot. So new painting processes must be imagined and developed. The exploration of future art through digital technologies has barely begun - the true painter must explore ways to compete.
AWARDS
1986 Discovery 86 Competition sponsored by Art Guild of New York Rockefeller Center (1st Place)
1985 The International Nepenthy Mundi Societies (Best of Cassic III Award)
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* None of the artworks may be copied or reproduced without the written permission of the Artist