Anna Navasardian, "Open"

Klemens Gasser and Tanja Grunert are proud to invite you to “Open,” Anna Navasardian’s first solo exhibition with Gasser Grunert Gallery. Navasardian’s life-size paintings use the language of portraiture to illuminate the facade between personal and constructed identity. The dynamic subjects carry a universal familiarity revealing relatable memories and experiences, opening themselves to the viewer.

Navasardian embraces traditional portraiture by citing paintings from the past to record her own history and Armenian culture. “Open” speaks to the intimate stillness Navasardian has with her models, using broad brush strokes and unnatural hues to narrate their character. Her subjects sit for lengthy sessions to create a neutral zone in which their personas dissolve. The weight of the resulting figures offers a sense of permanency, and the simplification of detail reveals the subject’s purest form.

Anna Navasardian, a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, was born in Armenia and currently lives and works in New York City.