Mantras by Armen Agop, Famous Contemporary Egyptian Artist

About

Houston, Texas, the home of Rothko’s Chapel-- the spiritual space, for contemplation and going inward --  is now hosting "Mantras by Armen Agop” at Art of the World Gallery. This highly anticipated exhibition marks the debut of acclaimed Egyptian artist Armen Agop in Houston.

The title Mantras encapsulates the spiritual essence of this exhibition. Each artwork is a meditation that engages the senses, reminding us that art can be an invitation to travel inwards and connect to our own inner spirituality.

In this body of work, Agop relinquishes his artistic skills, placing greater importance on inwardness, in order to transcend the individual self and delve into the experience of existing through time. Agop’s ascetic approach focuses on the simplicity of basic elements like a point or a line and believing in their infinite potential. The paintings materialize from the artist’s development of the gestural mantra, meditative mark-making using the smallest pen nib (0.1mm). The compositions unveil themselves through the artist's focused repetition of a single gesture over time. Through repetition of the smallest point, the infinite potential of a point is explored.

This results in artworks that go beyond any form of representation, yet remain intertwined with our consciousness as cosmic beings. Armen regards the substance of these artworks more highly than the use of any color or stone. “Our existence, Agop says, “goes beyond the physical, art exists beyond the physical too. Those who perceive only what they can see physically with their eyes deny the entirety of their holistic existence and disregard a big portion of themeselves and the universe. Our existence is a whole process, we fraction it in our mind in an attempt to understand it, once we realize it we better live it more than understand it so that we can expand to our (real) existence.”

The black granite sculptures are not conceived to impress by their outer scale or complexity, but by their capacity to reflect an inner experience of life. They are not made to celebrate individual ego but to awaken the collective unconsciousness. They are not static objects but dynamic beings that sway with the slightest touch.

Together, these works are physical manifestations of spiritual practice, the creative act itself a mantra chant.

-Olivia Green