Emily Keyishian
ARTIST STATEMENT
These paintings articulate an internal state, unconsciously tapping into the biological, microscopic forms that flow within our bodies. I’m interested in exploring those inner worlds of pattern and movement. There is something soothing in patterns and decoration that connects back to my roots and the underlying quest to find my place in the world and where my body belongs. My family’s uprooting from the Middle East and Ukraine because of genocide and violence was a heavy theme growing up and that vigilance of movement and awareness keeps my brain acutely aware. These paintings feel both soothing and are a reminder to keep moving.
Abstract art allows me to find a path in the world where I struggle to find where I fit, where I belong on the earth. Working in a medium where I can find my way on a canvas without a very specific journey feels very comfortable to me, the way I have had to find my way in the world has always felt without roots. There is no set path that I have found for myself. These paintings allow me to express that uncertainty of belonging, of the body not being in the right place on earth, the journey my family took to get here, leaving a country they loved because they were forced out and always feeling like this land was a temporary stop before they went back, which they never could return.
I was raised in New Jersey and New York City to a mixed family of Armenians from Turkey and Jews from what is now the Ukraine. Abstract art allows me to find a path in the world where I struggle to find where I fit, where I belong on the earth, especially now living on the west coast. Working in a medium where I can find my way on a canvas without a very specific journey feels very comfortable, I have had to find my way in the world without roots. There is no set place that have found for myself. These paintings allow me to express that uncertainty of belonging, of the body not being in the right place on earth, the journey my family took to get here, leaving a country they loved because they were forced out and always feeling like this land was a temporary stop before they went back. That lives within me and allows me to be inspired by that chaos of nature that somehow survives even if it is a mistake in where it landed. These dark, tangled images draw me in and that is what I try to recreate. I love using the language of abstraction to express my diaspora experience as an Armenian from Turkey and a Jew. Finding a way to preserve the culture within a world that wants to erase it.
LOCATION:
Oakland, CA
