Maral Petyan and Artur Papazyan make a beautiful couple. Both live for art and experience it each day. Pianist Artur Papazyan is well-known among Armenians. He was born in Yerevan, Armenia. He has studied at the Tchaikovsky music school and has performed at concerts. Then he went to the U.S. Armenian culture benefited a lot from their elopement because after living in New York for a while, both finally decided to return to Armenia and settle down in Yerevan. Currently, they live in a spacious illuminated apartment, which looks like a concert and exhibition hall at the same time.
“We wanted to have a big place so that Artur could play the piano and I could hang my paintings. We have already opened our doors to our guests in March and Artur played a concert,” says Maral Petyan, who is Artur’s best friend and advisor. Artur, in turn, is Maral’s inspiration.
Maral became an artist by chance. One day, she got up and decided that she wanted to become an artist, although she had never painted in her life. Now she has a great collection of paintings. Her paintings are very personal and emotional. Artur or the impressions of his masterpieces are reflected in each painting. Maral Petyan is a very elegant and extremely patriotic woman. Whenever she talks about Armenians, she uses the word “we” because she considers herself part of the Homeland. She has a very difficult and rare profession; in America, she used to construct tunnels, bridges and has even completed aqueducts. Maral and Artur started a new life when they came to Armenia.
“It has been eight months since we moved to Armenia and we don’t picture ourselves living anywhere else. The move was especially important for me. I was born and raised in Haleb, Syria, and have spent most of years in America,” says Maral Petyan, whose paintings reflect the emotions of a secure person and the observations of a woman with full spirit. When Maral’s good friend and well known sculptor Arto Chakmakchyan saw her paintings for the first time, he said: “They are very good, but I don’t understand where the author has learned to paint so well?”
There are no concrete elements in Maral’s paintings. They are very simple, vivid and clear. As Maral says, the Mount Masis and Armenian cross-stones in her paintings look at her and say “how come Armenia is leaving us?” Maral is certain that one must feel the dignity to live on his own soil.
– You came to Armenia with idealism. Aren’t you disappointed?
– Everyone has his or her own idealism. For us, the Homeland was always a priority. We had a good understanding of our history, where we come from and knew that sooner or later we had to come back to the Homeland. It was simply a matter of time. We felt that we had to be in Armenia both physically and spiritually. We knew very well where we were coming. I feel great in Yerevan.
– Have you gotten a chance to travel by public transportation yet? That’s one way you can really see what the city is like.
– I still haven’t taken public transportation because I live in the heart of the city, but I love to go to the market. I see many well-dressed and beautiful girls walking on the streets of Yerevan and I like their attitude; it’s as though they say that they are proud to live in this city. I really like that positive attitude. But there’s one thing that I really dislike in Yerevan: people who smoke on the streets. Whenever I see someone smoking on the street, I always ask that person why he smokes. He looks at me and thinks: who am I to judge him? But many put out their cigarettes after that question. I think there is only one thing that you can learn from America: not to smoke. There is nothing else that’s good.
– Have you tried earning money with your profession in Armenia?
– Not yet. True, there is a lot of construction going on in Armenia, but unfortunately, all buildings are going up and my profession is different. But my job, which is geotechnical engineering, has a lot to do with predicting future earthquakes. I am involved in strengthening the structures underground, for example, the water sewer, land and rocks, and I even estimate explosions. I hope that I will have more jobs. I recently heard that the Marmarik aqueduct is about to collapse. I was recently offered to work on repairing an aqueduct and I agreed with pleasure. The base for each construction must be strong. For example, the tower of Pisa leans because of the land. My job is to take care of that. You must make sure that your work doesn’t lead to severe consequences.
– Did you know that the major construction going on in the city caused problems for citizens of Yerevan looking for apartment buildings?
– I can’t say any facts about Yerevan and I probably don’t even have the right to. But I know that we are as unorganized as we are patriots. We only think about ourselves and will do anything to make sure nothing happens to us. In my opinion, that’s how it is for all Armenians. When systematic construction starts in France or Italy, everything is calculated beforehand. That says a lot about the stability of the country and its financial status. There shouldn’t be any financial losses in construction. The city is going to change but we must know who is going to benefit from it.
– Perhaps we don’t really care about the future and only think about today?
– That really characterizes Armenians. We don’t look beyond. Maybe that’s the reason why we are such a small nation. We must do everything we can to keep the Homeland that we have. The Armenians living in Armenia must take action, do something for the country because the Diaspora can’t really do that much anymore. The Armenian Diaspora is mixed up; there’s no culture, no characteristics. Diasporan Armenians are not Armenians, especially now.
– But Armenians from the Diaspora have always kept the Armenian spirit alive and have had the desire to perfect their Armenian.
– After the Genocide, we had a great Diaspora. We had famous people such as Shahnur and Andranik Tsarukyan. Can you name one contemporary Armenian writer? Even if Diasporan Armenian writers write Armenian, they don’t have readers. If you are talking about the Armenians that have moved from Armenia to Los Angeles, California, I must say that they are in a very bad situation. I don’t understand why an Armenian has to live in America? An Armenian doesn’t have the right to be Armenian there.
– Maybe it’s better to live in a mixed up place like America?
– No. If you see just how Armenians live there, you will be ashamed. Let’s not kid ourselves. When Armenians go there, they become slaves. Even if some reach success in science or business, they don’t do it thanks to their nationality, but rather they do it as individuals. In general, America keeps getting stronger with its flow of emigrants. However, we must take into consideration the fact that whereas 10 years ago a dishwasher at an American restaurant had the opportunity to one day open up his own restaurant, now he no longer has that opportunity. But if you actually start to work systematically in Armenia, you can achieve more. We Armenians are very impatient. I reached success through my efforts. But I know for a fact that I would have reached the same success if I worked that way.
– Your style is very expressive. It’s interesting, have you always painted this way or is there any difference?
– I started painting by chance. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. It was 1993. It was noon, and I had just got home angry. I told Artur that I want to do something that doesn’t involve you or my job, because both of them are evil. I went to a store, bought a canvas and brushes. I started to paint. There were four flowers in the house. I painted them and suddenly felt that I was more relaxed. I usually like to talk a lot and criticize. It was then I realized that I can express my thoughts and opinions through art. Each one of my paintings is something that I have lived through. Feelings are portrayed through paintings. For example, I painted “The Trap” at a time when I really felt like I was in a trap; in 1998 I painted “The Wave” as I felt the strength of an ocean’s wave. It’s not known whether you have to let that wave sweep you by or just let it pass. I have had those kinds of feelings. I was mainly concerned with emigration and so I painted a picture of Charents, whose line that reads “the chaotic people are running away from the sun” says a lot about emigration. Of course, I paint Artur a lot. It seems as though his music flows through my body. When I started painting, I felt like I could find the meaning of each of his expressions. First it was Artur’s interpretation of Chopin, then Komitas’s “Maral”, and Debiusi’s “Velvet Haired Girl”.
– Artur’s portraits are very expressive, he is very focused when playing Beethoven and more dreamy when playing Chopin.
– Yes, a man’s facial appearance changes when he gets into the music.
– Are there many outlooks for an artist in America?
– There’s no art in America; it’s all business. If someone is new in the field, he or she will have many followers. The people who copy someone’s work earn a good living and reach success, while the original artist is looked down on. There are many artists with the spirit in Armenia. In fact, we Armenians are a little egoist and we’re not used to following the rules. We follow up on other people who don’t follow the rules, but we forget about us. We have lived under the influence of others for 800 years and it’s very difficult to change that psychology. We are insecure and that’s why we can’t stand it when somebody else succeeds. It’s hard to live with that talent sent from above. That must be kept in order so that it can be effective. When, for example, Artur practices, I see how far he goes into detail and how he does his work so diligently. You must always feel a sense of responsibility of the job you do. In America, I knew that I had to go to work every day and I could only dedicate time to art on weekends. I have never had a special studio for painting in America. When I was painting, I used to open the paint box and paint. I used to always close up everything on Sunday night and put it in the closet because I had to drive to work on Monday morning in order to get to work. Having a dirty studio doesn’t mean that the artist comes up with more topics to paint. I don’t accept any kind of untidiness.
– Have you ever tried selling your paintings or putting them up for an exhibition?
– No, it hasn’t even crossed my mind. The thing is that those paintings are too dear to me and I don’t think that art lovers will understand me. But our doors are open to anyone who would like to come and see the paintings. The only time I showed my paintings was during the Artur’s concert at Lincoln Centre. The paintings were hung on stage.
– Recently, many people are speaking out on woman’s rights, claiming that women hold few positions in the political field and they have to fight for their rights.
– I am certain that if it weren’t for Armenian women, Armenia wouldn’t be able to get up on its own two feet. I don’t care what anyone says. That’s my opinion. Although our women are not well known among the people, however they have a strong will. It takes a lot of energy to become a leader. If you take a look at what kinds of women go into politics, you will notice that many of them don’t deserve to go into politics. Take for example America’s Condalezza Rice. Unfortunately, the best don’t get the positions that they deserve. You either have to be a good imitator and be a good liar. When I used to say to someone that this person is lying, he would tell me that that person must be in politics. Does that mean that politics is the same as lying? In that case, it doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman. We can formally have a female MP, but I don’t think that any woman with brains will go after something like that and follow the crowd. That’s the right way in all countries. Whether you like it or not, 51% of the world’s population is women and if we want to keep it that way, then we have to stand up for our rights. I hope that sooner or later the good people will hold the big positions. When I was working for a large construction firm, there was no female worker. It was hard to be the only female worker. Whenever I found the solution to a problem, the administration didn’t care about what I had to say until they faced the reality. As a woman, I have always felt discrimination but I have never shown it. I simply got angry because I was not the one hurt, but rather science and nature. I have always tried to be more affectionate towards nature, for example, when I was making estimations in the tunnel, I used to try better ways of solving the problems rather than exploding the rock. This kind of attitude is characteristic of all women.