PORTRAITS

BACKGROUND, PROCESS, AND DISCOVERY

Beginning in high school, I have taken photos of my art, family, and friends. These three subject areas represent an ongoing interest which has defined most of my life. It completes me as a person

in ways I sometimes don't understand. 

I vividly 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 during the day, and late at nightI I developed negatives in the bathroom when my parents were asleep. Converting negatives to photographic paper, and seeing the image slowly emerge from the whiteness of the paper was and still is a wonder ready to reveal itself with all of its photographic detail. 

The camera also has a socially acceptable identity in the presence  of others, softening my anxiety in social situations. The camera hanging above my waist   becomes a conversation when I have little or nothing to say.  
 

Fast forward to 1995, a new printmaking subject came to mind: family portraits and friends. It soon became a major commitment for exploring personal photos taken decades ago and recent ones taken with a digital camera. I began by reverting to earlier times to convert a few family photos to digital files. Many were augmented for adding a creative dimension. Different levels of magnification turned out better than I could have imagined. It brought forth unperceived details that created more clarity and truth to the printed portrait.
 

Bringing family and friends into the artful portrait arena of printmaking, unknown to the public at large would require large-scale bleed prints such as 40" x 30". The scale of the portraits and the creative expressive component  would draw more viewers into experiencing a different kind of portraiture, one of unsolicited facial expression and the new visual look, heightening their curiosity and experience. 

Technically producing a large-size print is challenging from the very beginning: transferring small paper-litho plates to BFK paper seamlessly, and for the handling and inking. Over the years, this unique and seldom used method of printing  has become my favorite medium for expression. Fragile plates and unpredictable disasters are ongoing concerns for maintaining ohigh-quality prints. The paper-litho method has proved to have an inherent visual character that is radically different from traditional printing of edition printing methods. Mono-printing has a kind of printing quality in portraiture that is exciting, refreshing, and interesting. 

Celebrating my dear parents, family, and friends within the inviolable realm of art is my way of honoring them. 

I also trust this body of work can be seen as an example of a new realm and look for printed imagery that is new and vital, full of possibility, and creatively worthy beyond traditional methods of printmaking. 

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

SEE SLIDE SHOW BELOW