I was born in Beirut, Lebanon. I have no formal art training. Since childhood people around me knew I had the talent to draw. At high school my nickname was "Artist". I love paintings and colors. It's this love of paintings that pushes me to paint and colors open up my heart and urges me to play with colors and become creative.
For about ten years I was a civil draftsman which gave me the opportunity to travel all over the world and work in different continents. I have worked in Nigeria, (Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt) visited Republic of Benin (Dahomey); Togo (Africa); Saudi Arabia for consecutive two years and visited it later on many times on different occasions and different years. I have been to Egypt. I have worked in London, United Kingdom. Now I live and work in the US. I frequently visit the Provence Region of southern France, in particular the city of Marseilles, where some of my family members reside.
I left Beirut at the end of 1983. I have been greatly influenced by the Armenian, Lebanese and Western Cultures. Even though my parents are of Armenian descent, I grew up as 100% Lebanese and 100% Armenian. I always felt comfortable in both cultures. Unfortunately because of the civil war in Lebanon and after many trips between Marseilles (France) and USA, I settled in the US in 1985 and ever since I have lived in Pasadena, California.
I Love the Mediterranean Sea. The beauty of the Mediterranean coast marvels me a lot and it is a great source of inspiration for me. Memories, activities and sceneries of my childhood in Beirut, the beauty of Marseilles and the Provence region of France inspire me a lot. I love the Provence region of France. Here I feel at home in Marseilles. I also get my artistic inspirations here in California with its magical environment. With my cosmopolitan background, my works reflect the light, the color and the atmosphere that I have experienced through these environments.
These environments open up my soul to imagination and creation. I try to translate the soul, the beauty and the feeling of these environments through my colors and my brush strokes. I am a self-taught artist and I work only in oil media. I try to aggravate people's emotions through color and lines. Lines which I call "Mood Aggravators". Today I am a graphic artist by career.
The desire to paint has never left me. I try to produce works, that I hope, would fascinate people and that would have universal appeal. I also hope my use of rich brilliant colors and heavy brush strokes would ensure fascination and the spirit and beauty of my paintings will attract attention and inspire emotions in the viewer.
I try to create for the viewer a wonderful moment of joy and hope that the viewer will be moved by the shapes and forms with the warmth and intensity of my color palette.
I try to go beyond the surface of my subject to grasp the profound and inspiring moments and translate the moment onto the canvas the way I see and feel, hoping that the quality will offer great satisfaction to the viewer and to be honest with you, that’s what I thrive on artistic level.
I manifest myself mainly in strong colors and dynamic brushwork, to evoke a fantastical joyous world of emotion. I develop forms, which express my innermost feelings. Thus making the canvas the ground for demonstrating intense and passionate emotions.
My school of thought is “an artist should not paint exactly what he sees”, rather “He has to use color as a means of expression, trying to interpret what he feels before him and what he wants to portray”. I also believe painting doesn't have to represent anything specific to be beautiful.