Charlie Tchetchenian

Charlie Tchetchenian

‘The Artsakh War Of 2020’

Drawing

Charcoal on Paper

4 Pieces

For my work I chose to work with a combination of Artline, Willow Charcoal and pencil, hence the achieve the expressive charcoal, yet also achieve a refined and detailed work through the addition of the Artline. My entire theme was expressive Charcoal, and through harsh lines, textures and shapes achieving and portraying the raw pain within the facial expressions. The piece is a combination of portraiture and human figure, as I wished to capture collective and individual expressive techniques thus creating a variety. Over time my charcoal technique became loose and free, thus my work is an example of my abstract and personally enriching style through my techniques and chosen media and materials. I purposefully spread my work over a large scale as this allowed a more profound audience impact and my composition further purposefully forms a combined box, hence portraying how each of my pieces are connected to each other.

The Concept is extremely close to my heart, it examines the 44 day Artsakh War in the later months of 2020, which ended in a shocking and devastating Armenian defeat, hence my piece details the horrors of war and the losses of the innocents. The theme is current and confronting, yet so is my chosen media, with the nun, hospitalised soldier, the father and son and the grieving mother all embodying the notions of Armenian values, such as faith, courage, generational grief and resilience – hence displaying the light and shade of war and the constant trauma yet perseverance of the Armenian plight. The Conceptuality of my piece contains a both wider and specific message, this being that war reeks long-lasting irreversible effects, such as the injuries of the soldier and the undying sorrow of the mother whom sobs over her fallen son, yet further through the piece of the nun exemplifying the holy faith and determination of the Armenian people and the closeness of the father and son depicts the sacred bond of family within Armenian culture, hence the true bravery of the civilians of Artsakh is my true takeaway message.

Influencing Artists: Guy Denning, William Kentridge, Henry Moore