Vasken Kalayjian’s “Vision Quest”: A Spiritual and Aesthetic Triumph

Vasken Kalayjian is at it again, shaking the cage of contemporary art with a show so real, so vulnerable, so necessary, that it challenges a great many assumptions that we have come to take for granted about the role of painting in postmodern society. Kalayjian, the subject of an upcoming biographical video and an important monograph in the literary journal Arrarat, emerged as an active player in the exhibition scene a mere year ago, with his first, critically acclaimed exhibition at the Cast Iron Gallery in Soho. Critics were struck by the impressive maturity of his work, which had evolved and been nurtured far from the publicity and pressures of the gallery world, in his secluded studio in Connecticut. At the center of his art are two important factors: his Armenian- American heritage and his spiritual practice–the latter including a serious study of Buddhism and Oriental calligraphy. From his family legacy of persecution and suffering–his father and grandmother were refugees from the Turkish government’s genocide against the Armenian people–he has learned to question the nature of existence, and in spirituality he has sought, if not answers, at least a way to transform and transcend worldly negativity.

All of these factors taken into account, however, the bottom line is how well Kalayjian has used his background and his spirituality to nourish a personal style firmly rooted in the tradition of Abstract Expressionism. This has never been clearer or more impressive than in his newest solo exhibition, “Vision Quest,” at the Cast Iron Gallery, 159 Mercer Street, from September 2 through October 2. (There will be a reception for the artist on Thursday, September 11, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.)

One of the most noticeable changes in this show is how Kalayjian has ripened as a colorist since his last exhibition. The chromatic intensity of the new paintings is so startingly dramatic that one can only attribute it to the spiritual experience that inspired the series. As the show’s title indicates, the “Vision Quest” is a self-imposed ordeal intended to deepen one’s connection to nature and the self. Kalayjian spent seven days of solitude in the Chirichua Mountains of Arizona, meditating and communing with the wilderness in search of what he terms “inner silence, inner purity.” It is his habit to keep copious journals in which he charts his spiritual development, as well as his aesthetic ideas, and in an entry relating to the “Vision Quest” experience, he notes, “The more you stay there–the purer it gets. The language of vision, dream, sign, symbol, and feeling intensifies.”

The visual evidence of this is in the paintings, each a sizable oil on canvas interpreting a particular day of the experience and the emotions and revelations it provoked. The first painting in the series, for example, is called “Day 1: Obstruction,” and it depicts the inner landscape in red and yellow hues, balanced and contained by the severe formal strictures of a composition dominated by thrusting horizontal forms suggests barriers.

In “Day 2: Decontraction,” there is a subtle lessening of formal tension, combined with a coloristic mellowing. The painting suggests the beginning of a breakthrough held in check by a meditative restraint. The softer palette results in a poetic lyricism that stands in stark contrast to the previous painting’s dynamic stridency.

“Day 3: Release” presents yet another mood, with brilliant and subdued colors interacting to provide powerful compositional contrasts. Here, a sense of exhilaration is conveyed in the energetic paint handling, as well as the movement of a strong red form across a yellow ground.

The artist’s strenuous inner journey is carried further in “Day 4: Contradiction of Duality,” “Day 5: Returning to the Source,” and “Day 6: The dream of delusion.”. Coloristically, these are some of Kalayjian’s most complex paintings, with their sumptuous layering of blues and reds creating rich harmonies and contrasts that convey a whole range of moods, mirroring the ups and downs of the Vision Quest, from introspection to elation.

The latter quality, particularly, is very much evident in the final canvas, “Day 7: Radiating with an open heart,” in which Kalayjian shares the climax of the spiritual journey with the viewer. Here, the artist achieves a truly magnificent sense of closure for the series, with a composition that conveys a sense of the infinite and glistening, fiery colors that suggest the heart as both living entity and loving metaphor.

Kalayjian’s willingness to lay bare his soul in the act of painting restores a much needed personal element to postmodern painting, which has become dangerously detached from the realm of spiritual experience in its constant striving for stylistic novelty. This powerful exhibition represents yet another giant step forward for an artist from whom we have already come to expect important strides with each new show. VAsken Kalayjian has not let us down, and there is every indication that he will continue to reward us richly with each successive outing.