Raffi Kalenderian

In Raffi Kalenderian’s portraits, the individuals find themselves embedded in a vibrant, textured and colorfully patterned surrounding. A scenery unravels itself where the portrayed subject smoothly blends into the spatial structure given by its environment.

The setting can be manifold: within a house or cabin, someone's apartment, the artist’s studio or somewhere outdoors, on a patio, in a garden or somewhere out on the streets. Captivating visual focal points enfold across the painting, hinting towards traces of motion. Likewise, objects in the back push forward and claim their position in the foreground. Upwards and downwards leading perspectives dissolve onto a playfully leveled surface. In Kalenderian’s paintings, objects such as walls, floors, curtains or clothing often radiate while complementing the illustrated person. Does the subject immerse into his surrounding or does the surrounding absorb energy off of the individual? And yet, the portrayed person appears slightly absent minded, almost drifty, entirely caught by his inner thoughts. Contrastingly notions of intimacy and total liveliness simultanously underly all of Raffi Kalenderian's works of art.

Raffi Kalenderian’s works capture a temporal complexity in a single instant - a quality intrinsic to his works and ever recurring. On his practice, Kalenderian has stated in the past that the act of painting helps him to slow things down and focus on the interpersonal relationships. „The social aspect is incredibly meaningful to me. Technology can be isolating, so sitting with a friend for a few hours and observing them, talking, is a great way to slow things down. The drawing becomes, among other things, a record of this time together, a record of existence.“

American artist Raffi Kalenderian was born 1981 in Los Angeles, where he lives and works. L.A.'s magically tinted skies have always been a relevant source of inspiration to the artist. Every so often the peculiarity of this city reflects momentously in Kalenderian's works. Another considerable stylistic influence has been the British artist David Hockney, whose landscapes and portraits depict a singular snapshot caught in time, as if the moment was meant to stretch forever. Kalenderian received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004. In the same year, he completed a residency at the Idyllwild Arts Academy in Idyllwild, California, followed by another residency in 2007 at St. Barthélemy in the French West Indies.

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