PORTRAITS

BACKGROUND, PROCESS, AND DISCOVERY

Beginning in high school, I have taken photos of my art, family, and friends. These three subject areas have represented ongoing interests and activities which has defined most of my life, giving me a reason for living each day meaningfully up to the present time.

I remember how happy I felt in my late teens when I purchased a Rolleicord Twin Lens Reflex camera. It quickly became a proactive tool for taking B&W photos related to the vicissitudes of my everyday life. 

Besides taking pictures, late at nightI I developed negatives in the bathroom  when my parents were asleep. Converting negatives on to photographic paper, and seeing the image slowly emerge from the whiteness of the paper was always an anticipated wonder ready to reveal itself with all its photographic detail. This experience remains a  wonder and magic of things that already exist.

Photography also gave me a socially acceptable identity softening my anxiety in social situations. A camera hanging over my shoulder provided something worth sharing with others when I had little or nothing to say.  
 

Fast forward to 1995, a new printmaking subject of interest came to mind: family portraits and friends. It soon became a major project for exploring personal photos taken decades ago and recent ones taken with a digital camera. I began by reverting to an earlier time to convert a few family photos to digital files. There were many changes and creative possibilities for viewing digital files. The different levels of magnification turned out better than I could have imagined. Digital augmentation revealed many unperceived details that allowed for more clarity and the use of special effects.
 

By bringing ordinary families and friends into the artful arena of printmaking, I thought would required large-scale bleed prints such as 40" x 30". The scale of it would draw  more viewers to experience the details heightening their curiosity 

and experience. Technically the large-size print would be challenging for transferring small paper-litho plates to BFK paper seamlessly, and for the handling and inking. Over the years, I have selected this unique and seldom used method of printing that has become my favorite medium for printmaking. Fragile plates and unpredictable printing is an going concern to maintaining high-quality prints The paper-litho method has proved to have an inherent visual character that is a radically different kind of artfulness in portraiture than traditional

printing methods. 

Celebrating my dear parents, family, and friends within the inviolable realm of art is my way of honoring them. I also hope that my body of work is seen as an example worthy enough to be respected along side of the traditional methods of printmaking. 

John Avakian, Oct. 23, 2018 Revised Sept,26, 2022

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