Delicate Matter unfolds through the multiple meanings of the word matter. It refers to the delicate matters we often avoid naming—questions of power, masculinity, violence, and vulnerability—and to matter as substance, the material from which bodies, paintings, memories, and systems of power are formed.

The exhibition centres on two large-scale triptychs, each composed of three panels. Each work measures 202 × 273 cm and is created on canvas through a distinctive process that layers oil, acrylic, adhesive, pigments, and wax from Armenian church candles. One triptych is covered with a layer of red pepper powder, while the other is veiled in blue pigment.

The triptych format itself recalls the visual language of altarpieces, introducing a spiritual register that is further enriched through the artist’s choice of materials and chromatic relationships. Ohanyan’s characteristic blue—an enduring presence throughout his artistic practice—together with red adds another symbolic layer, while the yellow of Armenian church candles completes the three primary colours, from which every other hue emerges, presenting art as a generative force from which new ways of seeing, imagining, and understanding the world arise.
Across each surface, the monochromatic field is interrupted by an abstract opening that exposes an underlying figurative composition in stark contrast to the monochrome veil above. Combining gestural abstraction with figurative painting, this concealed layer, covered with molten wax, introduces an additional visual and conceptual dimension to the work.

Unlike the other canvases, where only fragments of figures, symbols, letters, and numbers can be discerned beneath the waxed surface, the final panel of the blue triptych reveals the full portrait of a woman.

Emerging through the translucent layer of wax, she meets the viewer with a calm yet penetrating gaze, reversing the relationship between observer and observed. Seated with a notebook resting on her knees, she appears as a symbolic figure of motherhood, homeland, and the continual renewal of life through the transmission of knowledge across generations.

These works may be understood as meditations on endurance and transformation. They acknowledge experiences of pain, violence, and loss while resisting spectacle.

Rather than exposing images of violence, Ohanyan employs concealment as a painterly strategy, exploring the capacity of the painted surface to reveal and withhold, to protect and confront. In doing so, he transforms painting itself into a site of inquiry, reflecting on how images shape memory and preserve what cannot always be fully revealed.

Tamar Hovsepyan