Allégresse 1989

Paul Guiragossian’s ‘Allégresse’ is a field of vertical marks rendered in lush shades of yellow, blue, green, and red, painted with loose but deliberate gestures, a flurry of strokes. Just imagine Guiragossian in front of the canvas, perhaps in a state of what he called 'spiritual agitation'. The paint is applied with a kind of rhythmic urgency, layering colors that vibrate against each other. There’s this one insistent stroke of blue that just pierces through the other hues, acting almost like a jolt, and I can almost feel the artist’s hand moving as I look at it! I can imagine how much he looked at other figurative painters, but with a twist. He really makes the painting his own. Artists are always in conversation, aren't they? An ongoing exchange of ideas, inspiring each other across time, which is the magic of painting, how it captures the beauty and the mystery of human feeling.