“Repetition”, which is always like the first meeting
“ALIK” – On Friday, May 19, the exhibition-sale of the young artist Arbi Keshishian’s “Reverse Memories” was opened at the “Sheydaei” exhibition hall in Tehran.
About 30 paintings, an existentialist statement, and a smiling Arbi with round glasses. Without one, the other two seem to become meaningless, because, as he tells Arbi, he is himself in the circles, alone and in all the pictures is the image of the same woman with the yellow earring on the same table, and the cooling cup of coffee opposite… of course this is not mentioned anywhere., if you ask, he will tell. Here, too, you will remember that the priority in art is beauty, not wisdom.
Arbi studied at the Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts, and his zero point in the artist’s past dates back to the day when he was admitted there as a student 18 years ago. When asked how many individual exhibitions this is, he answers that there are many, but as if every time is like the first meeting.
“When encountering any scene, image, melody or event, it is as if something new has been sprinkled on it, so that you cover the whole scene with it like dust, and you no longer perceive it as a first encounter. It becomes a recurring image. And it is in order to get rid of that shackle that we want to divert the focus and get out of that trap and breathe fresh,” said Arbi Keshishian in a statement reminiscent of Sartre’s “Vomit”, although the author ends the speech with a thought borrowed from Suren Kierkegaard. “This exhibition is to live and experience the everyday and the repetitions for the first time, like memories turned upside down.”
The exhibition will last 20 days, in the “Sheydaei” exhibition hall, located next to the “Photography House-Museum” (North Bahar) of Iran.
