_before_the_rise/ (2026) Original Mixed-media Painting by Ilya Vartanian

A folded human figure occupies the image as a dense, compressed presence. The body remains immediately recognizable, yet its contours begin to merge with the surrounding field, creating a tension between physical weight and visual dissolution. The deep magenta ground intensifies this sense of enclosure, while green, blue and black interruptions remain embedded within the figure as traces of earlier states of the image.
The image passes through drawing, photography and the digital environment before being manually transferred onto canvas using acrylic medium. Each stage alters the image and becomes part of the next, leaving traces of the process embedded in the final surface. Acrylic functions here as part of the transfer and material construction of the work rather than as a conventional painting medium. The result is a technological palimpsest in which figuration and abstraction coexist.
The work is presented on unstretched canvas.
No generative AI was used in the creation of this artwork.

Materials used:

mixed media and image transfer on canvas

Details:

• Mixed-media painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 60 x 80 x 0.1cm (unframed)
• Signed certificate of authenticity
• Style: Abstract
• Subject: People and portraits