Alexandra Manukyan

My artworks reflect a diverse array of influences and themes that materialize through the vivid colors of oil paint to convey the perpetual turmoil of identity, longing, fear and despair that interweave to form the entangled tapestry of the human soul. Characters in my paintings are often fashioned in lush drapery or unique costumes with intricate and specific details to create tangible personalities engaged in the midst of mysterious and intriguing actions. The interplay of physical tensions, immaculate grace, and sublime expression found in the figures is further augmented by hauntingly evocative atmospheres expounding upon the multi-faceted dimensions of individual and shared states of existence. By combining traditional figure painting techniques with surrealist symbolism I focus on depicting the integration of man and machine to communicate the immediate and lasting impact of technological innovations on the human body and psyche. One dominant theme in my paintings often appears as the feminine form bearing the burdens of worldly grief and mistakes on her body bowing in resignation to a seemingly inevitable fate: the acquiescence of the corporeal state to the encroaching dominance of modern technologies conjoining itself like an apathetic demon of silicon and circuitry cursing more than fulfilling promises of beauty and comfort. Alexandra Manukyan