October landscape 1953

Curator: Martiros Sarian's "October Landscape," painted in 1953, presents us with a rather fascinating vista. The impasto application of oil paint brings a tangible quality to the land. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: It has a sun-drenched, almost ethereal feel to it. I am interested by the materiality. What do you see in this piece, considering the time it was made? Curator: Look at the paint itself – the visible strokes, the build-up, particularly in the foreground rocks and shadows. This isn’t just about representation; it’s about the very substance from which the image is constructed. Think about post-war artistic production; materiality was everything. How could paint act as a form of record, an archive of gesture, almost a relic of making? Sarian's method is important here. What do you notice about it? Editor: It looks very gestural, almost hasty in parts. I wonder if this says something about artistic license, or maybe something deeper about the way landscapes change with human activity and perception. Curator: Precisely! This work resonates in the postwar moment as the avant-garde explored pure expression. Its physical presence suggests that even landscapes were commodities shaped by cultural perception. This reminds us that materiality conveys the spirit of transformation—cultural transformation included. Editor: So the artistic movement after the World War marked its influence on Sarian? How does "October Landscape" contribute to it? Curator: Sarian brings a distinct cultural lens from the Armenian context, showing a regional materiality but the artistic technique reveals its role within abstract expressionism. So yes, indeed it marked its impact. Editor: That gives me so much to consider. Now I'm seeing those gestural strokes as conveying deeper meaning. Thank you. Curator: The pleasure is mine. Now go forth and challenge the traditional canons.