Տ Ա Ր Ա Գ Ի Ր Ն Ե Ր Ն Ո Ւ Ե Ր Ա Զ Ո Ղ Ն Ե Ր Ը . E X I L E S A N D D R E A M E R S
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Alexandra Vassilikian
B . 1946 , Bucharest , Romania . Lives and works in Germany and France
Alexandra Vassilikian ’ s Untitled lithographic print is an evasive image . At once an abstract space of indeterminate shapes and fluctuations , it also recalls a primal natural landscape in turmoil . Redolent of Turner ’ s seascapes , Vassilikian ’ s darker and foreboding piece wavers between nothingness and becoming . This state of instability and rootlessness typifies not only the primary enquiries of Vassilikian ’ s art , but her life trajectory itself . Escaping Ceausescu ’ s Romania , Vassilikian obtained political asylum in France in 1985 , after spending close to five years in Lisbon with the support of the Gulbenkian Foundation . Since then , the artist has moved constantly , living almost nomadically between London , Paris , Germany and other European cities . It is , thus , unsurprising that Vassilikian makes nature her central subject matter and object of investigation .
Constantly in a state of transformation and movement , nature is also cyclical , promising the possibility of return and rebirth , just as it heralds the onset of death and decay . Vassilikian treats these motifs allegorically , using painting , lithography , installation and analogue photography as a way of capturing the larger realities of existence . Working over long periods of time , she observes the changing conditions of landscapes and the vegetal world , often producing fragmentary images that coalesce into larger , immersive environments in her exhibitions . As noted by scholar Chaké Matossian , these installations ‘ induce a sense of vertigo in the viewer ’, thus destabilizing our dominant position in relation to the ‘ landscape ’.
Vassilikian ’ s neo-romantic approach is an attempt to reconnect with the world beyond the cultural lens that define our perceptions . She seeks a sublime realm , where lines and borders are constantly erased and swept away by powerful forces . The artist points out the fluidity of this condition , which envelops and affects all people regardless of their roots or nationality – a vision that is as poetic , as it is political . ( VG )
Bibliography Chaké Matossian , ‘ Alexandra Vassilikian : L ’ oeil du Paysage ou le Vertige Scopique ’, Haratch : Mitk ev Arvest , March 3 , 1991 , p . 4 ; Jean- Philippe Domecq and Alexandra Vassilikian , Un Coin du Monde : Le Bauptois , Isoète Edition , Maupertus-sur-Mer , 1997
© Cafesjian Museum Foundation