Tsolak Topchyan

Tsolak Topchyan's work is immersive in every sense, for both the artist and observer. The loose-hanging cotton fabric, suspended from the ceiling, can be seen from all sides. The two sides of the artwork, with pink embroidered dots scattered across the canvas like stars in the sky, mirror each other (Pink Dots, 2023). Yet, what is seen on one side of the artwork remains concealed on the other, highlighting the paradoxical relationship between the visible and the invisible. On another canvas, by repeatedly piercing the fabric, Topchyan merges the fibers together, forming grids and circuits, thus establishing a radical artistic movement that has no beginning or end (Pink Running Stitch, 2023). The interplay of patterns created can be interpreted as mapping conflicts. The loose ends imply that the conflicts may last forever or, conversely, that someone may find a way to tie them together by finding a solution to the conflict at hand. These dualities reflect the complex elements of everyday life: outsider and insider; diasporan and native; neighbor and enemy; perpetrator and victim. They form a Hegelian dialectic, whereby conflict-both real and artistic-can lead through sublimation to a peaceful Weltgeist or universal spirit.

 

Tsolak Topchyan was born in 1981in Gyumri, Armenia. He graduated from the Gyumri branch of the State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia. He had several solo exhibitions in New York City (2023), Brazil (2022), Minsk, (2018), and in Vienna, (2004). Currently he lives and works in Berlin.

 

Topchyan's works are in private and public collections in Armenia, Austria, France, Germany, USA, and South Korea.