LEVON ASLANYAN

CONFLICT & DIALOGUE

 

 

Urartian Warriors

A new reality has brought with it a new definition of the word “warrior.” The arrow, the bow and the shield have been replaced by aerial contraptions like drones. The traditional role of the soldier has been radically transformed, the battlefield suddenly displaced into cyberspace.

 

Nowadays, humankind is in a constant state of war—be it economic, informational or cultural—and people have all unintentionally become warriors. Whether we like it or not, we have each become protectors or caretakers, responsible for defending a house, a land, a cultural heritage, a history, a language.

 

In his series of graphic works “Urartian Warriors,” the artist Levon Aslanyan gives us a pure vision of this soldier with an altered identity. His figures are expressive and yet peaceful, their features noble, their gazes mystical. 

Depicted in acute detail and in striking sizes, these characters emerge from the surface of the paper on which they are drawn and play with the viewers’ memory. It seems that these men have always existed in our imaginations.

 

The works portray idealized soldiers from the inside out; expressionist brushstrokes and sharp lines render their faces indelible and drive the weapons they carry and the armor they wear into the background. 

Aslanyan has chosen to focus on the inner peace and purity of a warrior who has overcome his fears—in stark contrast to the fragility and vulnerability of those of us quotidian ‘warriors’ who have not.