Lueurs d’obscurité
That’s the title of a virtual exhibition Agavni Bagdikian, assistant in DGT, set up to showcase some of her oil paintings in which she plays with movement and the contrast between light and darkness.
‘One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star’. That’s a quote by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche that led to the exhibition’s title and reflects what Agavni wants to express in her latest series of paintings, which she worked on during confinement.
“It’s about light that comes through the darkness. About a little sparkle of hope that illuminates the darkness at any difficult moment in life,” she explains, “whether that’s a divorce, another conflict or a raging war. And I want to express this idea with figurative paintings where dance and movement play an important role, because movement liberates positive thoughts and emotions.”
“Movement is in my genes,” Agavni jokes, who incidentally mentions that she’s also a yoga teacher in the Commission. “Just like my Armenian origin,” she adds. Her parents lived as Armenian refugees in Greece, where she went to an Armenian school. She recalls when visited Armenia it was a very touching experience. “All the pain, the sadness and the history of my country of origin, is inside me and in my paintings, I cannot separate it.”
Focusing on oil paintings
Although she does have a good overview of other techniques such as pastel and watercolour, Agavni uses oil paint as it’s the most convenient material for her work. “It best reflects my feelings and emotions.” It was when she started her visual art studies at the Académie des Beaux-Arts at Watermael-Boisfort in 2006, she knew she wanted to focus on oil paintings.
It’s not the easiest route to take because first, oil paint is quite expensive, and second, and more importantly, you cannot create an oil painting from one day to another. “It takes a long time, since you have to work layer by layer to add motion, a new colour, a different perspective,” explains Agavni, “and when you’re not happy with what you’ve produced during one stage, you might have to start all over, and that’s very disappointing. But it’s a good lesson in resilience,” she laughs, “which can be useful at the workplace too!”
Once Agavni starts painting, she just cannot stop anymore. “During weekends I go to my workshop in our house where nobody can disturb me, and I paint for 10 to 12 hours. Luckily my husband loves watching me work besides his interests keeping himself busy” she smiles. “It takes a lot of energy as I completely give myself to the painting. I put my mind, my body, my feelings into it.”
Her paintings are usually the result of emotions that she wants to express, combined with an external influence such as the colour of a flower she noticed on a walk or an exhibition that deeply touched her. “I can free my energy in my paintings,” she says, “and I hope that this energy comes through to the audience. When someone buys my work and tells me they can feel that energy, I’m truly honoured.”
Combining the abstract and figurative
Agavni’s earlier works are heavily influenced by the style of the British painter William Turner. “During my time at the Académie, I created a lot of abstract works, but after that period I wanted to focus more on figurative paintings, and really focus on movement. I find it intriguing to investigate which feelings lookers-on experience when watching movement.”
In her future paintings, Agavni would like to explore a combination of figurative and abstract work. “One of my paintings in the exhibition is already going in that direction,” she says. “You see the back of a girl, heading towards an unknown future.”
If you would like to explore more of Agavni’s work, you can wander around in her virtual exhibition Lueurs d’obscurité (link below).
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Although Agavni has already had several physical exhibitions – solo or together with other artists –, including one in the Malton Gallery in Ohio, she opted to take her paintings online this time. “It was the safest bet in the times we live in,” she says. “And from experience, I know setting up an exhibition is really hard work, which you cannot do from one day to another. You need to factor in a lot of time to set it up, and as I explained, oil paintings do not themselves overnight!”