Aragats 1925

Martiros Sarian made this landscape, Aragats, with what looks like pen and ink, and what strikes me is the layered way he’s built up the image, a real sense of process. The marks feel almost scientific in their precision, yet the overall effect is dreamy. Look closely and you’ll see how the lines build up the texture of the mountains, like geological strata mapped out in ink. Then, your eye travels down to the fields, each one defined by these repeated parallel lines. It’s almost like Sarian is building the landscape, mark by mark. The oxen in the foreground, pulling the plough, they have a rhythm all their own. They seem to be taken from some other source, a more historical, folksy image. Which only heightens the contrast between the traditional and the modern, like he’s layering time itself onto the land. It reminds me of David Hockney's photocollages, how he would play with time and space in his work, creating something new from the familiar.