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10/4/2008

Raffi Tokatlian

Harvest Gallery, Glendale

Harvest gallery is pleased to present a series of surrealistic-classical bronzes by renowned artist Raffi Tokatlian from April 11 to May 11. Raffi Tokatlian, a Lebanon based sculptor is a cosmopolitan man fluent in five languages. Despite the tragedy of his personal history (his grandfather was a survivor of the Turkish genocide, escaping to establish a family in the Middle East); Raffi is an elegant, essentially optimistic artist whose three dimensional works relate both a mysterious surrealism and a mythological poetry. He whimsically describes his art as “surreomythoclassical”- the confluence of influences defines an artistic nature deeply interested in the place where the contemporary myths of surrealism meet the historical legends of classical mythology.

In this particular space, Tokatlian skillfully makes bronze sculptures through the lost wax process, resulting in striking figures that disturb as well as thrill. In this sense, he is truly an artist for his time; despite his forward –looking nature, he creates works that speak to loss, even devastation. If our time demands that we recognize a certain grief born of historical awareness and social participation, Tokatlian has done his part, moving through difficulty and decline to declare the essential spirit of man. Tokatlian, a modern-day neoplatonist, believes that love is the ultimate spiritual battle, the most significant struggle of a man’s or woman’s life. His work suggests a lot of reading of art history- he cites Donatello, Rodin, Picasso, and Giacometti as influences-yet the overall feeling is one of stylistic independence. This style, coupled with his mythological reading of the human condition, has enabled him to direct a commentary on human whimsy that is incisive and accessible at the same time.

Artist reception: Friday, April 11, 7-10pm

Harvest Gallery
938 N. Brand Blvd. - Glendale
Free admission

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