Raffi Kalenderian, “Erics”, 2011, Oil on Canvas, Dimensions Unknown
Raffi Kalenderian is a painter living and working in Los Angeles, California. He graduated with a BFA in Painting at the University of California and did his residency at Saint Bartélemy, French West Indies.
He has a preference for portraying people in his immediate environment. In his portraits the boundaries between figure and background are blurred in such a way that the figure blends into the structures of its environment. Kalenderian’s painting style is reminiscent of painters such as Pierre Bonnard, Paul Cézanne, the Futurists or the early Mondrian, though his oeuvre is surprisingly contemporary at the same time.
In the case of his solo portrait “Erics”, there is not as may be expected one pair of eyes looking at us, but there are two. In this drawing Kalenderian captures the image of a friend, who appears twice at the same time, as if his alter ego had crept into the picture: at once awake and stretching himself, at once nearly asleep and withdrawn. Through this double appearance the drawing not only gains a psychological component but also emits an animating dynamic.