A street in Naples: a market 1965

Editor: This is "A street in Naples: a market," an oil painting from 1965 by Mariam Aslamazian. The texture looks really thick. What grabs my attention is how the laundry lines compete with the market stalls. What do you see when you look at this work? Curator: The eye is indeed drawn to the tension between the domestic and the commercial spheres. Note how Aslamazian employs short, broken brushstrokes—a hallmark of Impressionism—to depict both the hanging laundry and the bustling market scene below. The composition itself is divided into distinct planes: the dark vertical shaft suggesting architectural framing, the chaotic mid-ground of laundry, and the compressed space of the market. Editor: So you are focused on the visual language itself, the brushstrokes, and the arrangement. Does the subject matter contribute at all to its interpretation? Curator: Subject matter serves merely as a pretext. The painting's core lies in the artist's exploration of form and color. Consider how the limited palette of muted reds, whites, and blues creates a sense of unity despite the disparate elements within the composition. The lines of washing repeat forms found in the stalls, mirroring the urban existence across various axes. Do you see how the geometry here flattens the scene, denying any atmospheric perspective? Editor: I see that now! The lack of depth really pushes the shapes and colors forward. It’s less about Naples, and more about…paint. Curator: Precisely! It is Aslamazian's formal manipulation of the medium, the deliberate flattening and fracturing of space that becomes the focal point. The essence here resides in the pictorial construction itself. Editor: It's interesting to consider how the seemingly everyday scene is almost secondary to the pure artistic experimentation. I appreciate that, in essence, the forms themselves become the subject.