I also would like to live 1980

Mariam Aslamazian painted this expressionistic landscape, titled *I also would like to live,* with oils on canvas. There’s something almost performative about the brushstrokes in this painting; the way the paint’s been dragged and daubed across the canvas, it’s like Aslamazian is conducting the paint, allowing it to speak in thick, gestural marks. Check out the trunk of the tree; it's a tangle of deep browns and blues, built up from layers of paint, giving it this incredibly gnarly, almost sculptural quality. The branches reach out, kind of like arms, and they are dripping with these thin, washy strokes that suggest leaves or maybe even tears. This reminds me of Marsden Hartley. Both had this really personal, almost spiritual approach to landscape painting. Aslamazian isn't just painting a tree, but embodying the sheer will to live. It's a reminder that art is always a conversation, a dialogue across time and cultures, about what it means to be human.