Anush Babayan

Artist Statement

My art synthesizes word, sound, and color; it is born at the intersection of inner vision, ancestral memory, and the experience of traveling between “worlds.” Immigration became not just a change of place, but a passage through invisible boundaries of consciousness. It deepened my perception, allowing the new to become unexpectedly familiar and opening inner horizons where the human microcosm reflects the vastness of the macrocosm.

All my paintings are visual prayers. In them, I engage in a dialogue with the viewer about Time, about the Self, and about the structure of the Universe. The viewer becomes a co‑author, because they perform the same creative work as the artist: they decipher my Sensory‑Knowledge and Dream‑Imagination while simultaneously reflecting on their own emotions, feelings, and thoughts.

Themes of my work. I turn to cosmic imagery — the connection between microcosm and macrocosm, the nature of inner light, spiritual transformation, silence, memory, migration, cultural dialogue, and the invisible laws of the Universe, as well as the inner “galaxies” of human experience. These forms remind us that the spirit and the sense of light are immeasurably greater than the physical body. The multilayered and multidimensional nature of my paintings creates a space for traveling into one’s inner world, where the viewer unexpectedly “returns to themselves” — to the place where true understanding is born.

Sometimes it seems to me that art is a way to hold the Light that passes through us, to pass it on to others through art so that it does not disappear without a trace. We all carry within us the imprints of places, cultures, and encounters we have lived through, and this inner light changes its density as we cross boundaries — both external and internal. I feel that every new experience, every shift in place or state, adds another layer to my perception of the world, expanding the inner map of the Universe. And when I paint, I weave these layers — memory, feeling, migration, silence, light — into a single breath that becomes an image of our shared Time.

My artistic practice. Each of my works is conceived over many months, yet painted in a state of “here and now” — in a single breath. Once completed, I do not return to make corrections or additions: I have no sketches, drafts, or drawings from life. I work with rice paper, mineral pigments, and a traditional Chinese brush. All impressions, reflections, thoughts, feelings, and emotions undergo an inner process of maturation before they become color and movement on paper or canvas.

I draw inspiration from observing nature, from different cultures, and from various art forms. I often turn to music and poetry, as I hold a degree in philology and also have a musical education. As a university professor, I created and taught my own courses — “Aesthetic Communication” and “Axiology of Art” — in both undergraduate and graduate programs. I do not seek to depict reality; I share my Sensory‑Knowledge, drawn from different cultures and inner worlds. I confess that I always feel an irresistible desire to see the invisible, to approach an understanding of the Universe and its laws, to hear the polyphony of the Cosmos within its silence… for each of us is capable of hearing this quietness — both inside and around us.

Questions often resonate in my paintings. One of them is this: have you ever noticed the hints the Universe gives us through the shapes of clouds?
In the sky of Los Angeles, I see dancing Angels every day, their wings carrying messages. I receive them with gratitude, for these movements later echo in the trajectories of my hands as I guide the brush across the canvas. Wherever I go, I always look at the sky, and I must admit: the way the sky of Los Angeles brings us the Universe’s messages is something rarely found elsewhere.