Tokens IV 1961

Garo Antreasian created "Tokens IV," a print, using lithography, a process of printing from a flat stone or metal plate. Antreasian was born to Armenian parents who survived the Armenian genocide; this history surely informed his art, though he often worked abstractly. This print presents a series of stark contrasts. A rough, textured background surrounds a smooth, dark center, with vertical lines suggesting a gateway or portal. A circle hovers above this opening, like a seal or a sun. The monochromatic palette evokes a sense of solemnity, hinting at themes of memory and the unseen. I wonder, is this “token” a kind of offering, a marker of remembrance? Or is it a sign of something yet to be discovered? The tension between the rough and the smooth, the light and the dark, invites us to contemplate the complexities of history, and the marks it leaves on our identities.