Arminée Chahbazian

During this pandemic, I see the natural world as a place of solace, as well as a resource for understanding how fragile our existence is within it. Nature can serve to calm the human psyche with its infinite array color, light, form and dynamic relationships. Yet, these elements can also create conditions that are beyond human understanding or control. I seek to create a narrative in my work that highlights the beauty and awe in natural environments while also conveying the vulnerability of life within it. My work describes a transforming event unfolding, but it doesn’t end there. Always, in my work I attempt to show a sign of hope, or a window to the next place. My concerns for the degradation and shifts in the environment pre-date the pandemic, but are amplified by our increasing sense of fragility, and how we’ve been humbled by that which is unseen or not understood.

Born in Colorado, and with an MFA from Yale, she has been based in Northern California for over 25 years - this follows influential years spent living and working in France and in the eastern US.

Arminée's work has been included in numerous exhibitions along both coasts of the US, as well as in France and Holland; most recent shows have been focused in the Los Angeles area at the Brand Art Center and Lois Lambert Gallery, as well as the San Francisco Bay area in such venues as the Napa Valley Museum and Sonoma Valley Museum. Her widely ranging work has been added regularly to many private collections.