The author connects the transformations taking place in the inner-world with human issues and says that in the epicenter of reality is the human being. There is no need to run away or avoid one’s “individuality”. It is only possible to find contact spots with the external cosmic world even if it takes screaming out loud for that or struggle. 70-year old Henri Elibekyan is a contemporary painter. He has conducted different thrilling actions, performances and projects in different periods of his life. At present he has many new ideas.
Henri Elibekyan’s passionate and bright art resembles a theater. He studied in the actors’ department; has had performances in the theater of Tbilisi when he was young. However he liked painting more. Plays and theaters have permanently accompanied him. He was occupied with stage designing (his first performance was dedicated to the outstanding stage designer Jorj Yakulov) and performing on the stage of Tbilisi Theater. Henrik Elibekyan almost always stages his exhibitions and completes his canvases with conceptual texts. In his last project the author connected his fragile, ponderous and dilemmatic self-portraits with an angry and nervous scream, “Man is man’s own enemy”. This means that for the man the other man is only a tool and means that there is no peace or God in his/her soul. Without God life is nothing more than just a decoration and the human being is either an actor or a mannequin. And neither the powerful state nor the fairest laws can save him/her. Man becomes a hunter for the other man. These comments of the painter are very emotional and thrust from his aggressive and peculiar character. “We have been pursued and raped for years”, states Mr. Elibekyan. However besides the sole reflection of this fact his self-portraits also imply deep and serious quest. The tenseness is portrayed in each portrait. Besides the fact that the portraits are conceived by all viewers, they contain gloom and efforts of resisting turbulence. The line and color are ideas, which the author tries to instill in the minds of people. His images are fresh and young because quest and doubts are characteristic to young people. The artist’s paintings cause trepidation even among the most passive audience because it’s not possible to look at the paintings and leave. It’s worth expressing views and imaging. Henri Elibekyan’s essence is against rural and stereotyped mentality. One of his paintings painted years ago was called “Spitting at the public taste”. This name is very symbolic because the presence of mass taste degrades the bright individuals. They lose their ability of getting amazed and admired. Having started to create during the free-style period of the 60s Mr. Elibekyan still remains as both a manifesting and romantic artist. He appreciates the opinion of the audience very much. “When speaking about myself I speak about everyone. Everybody sees his/her reflection in my portraits”, he says. The “individuality” of each person is when each person wants to express himself and Mr. Elibekyan, who is already considered an artist that portrays modern art, thinks that the painters can revive the souls of people. “Humanity faces destruction. Who else but the human being should think about preventing or stopping it?” says the artist-filmmaker-painter. One of the previous projects of Henri Elibekyan was called “Love the humans” and according to artist Poghos Haytayan it petitioned people to “love the human being, which in fact is the greatest and most vulnerable phenomenon of this planet”. Henri Elibekyan was born in Tbilisi, used to live in Ukraine, Moscow. Later he returned to Yerevan. “My heart always worries for my Homeland”, he says.
