In September 2007 I was writing I like Berberian but I don’t feel confident putting in words why I do. I also promised that as soon as I am able to do it, I will come back to this article. Enough time has passed, I should give it a try.
Ovanes Berberian was born Armenia and is living in US since 1977.
He has a very distinctive style, an aggressive brush stroke and a lovely lack of attention to details.
At the same time, he has a superb capacity of capturing the essence in just a few brush strokes. His paintings are dominated by light and color while shapes are almost not present.
Standing in front of an Ovanes Berberian painting you must step quite back to be able to see the shapes. This kind of impressionism should, in my opinion, be called anti-photorealism.
By a remarcable coincidence. the presentaiton on this website helps. Have a look at the thumbnails first. Try to imagine how much detail is needed to capture this landscape on canvas. Then click on the thumbnail to see it larger.The difference in details from the expectations produced by the perfect representation of light and color is fantastic. I am convinced that a perfect copy of the landscape, for example a photo of it, would produce the same thumbnail when reduced. But when blown up to the size of the painting, what a difference. This is Berberianț’s talent. A perfect copy I can get from my photo camera.
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His website still doesn’t have much information but you can see more of his paintings here and here.
