‘Composition of Silence’: Finnish Artist Explores Paradox of Silence

The Art and Cultural Studies Laboratory in Armenia has organized a solo exhibition by visiting artist Sebastian Boulter from Finland.

Boulter’s series of paintings, called “Composition of Silence,” part of his residency at the Laboratory, will be available to the general public from March 10 to 16 at Art Mix Studio on 29 Saryan St. in Yerevan.

According to the artist, “Silence is a phenomenon whose openly contradictory nature turns it into the paradox par excellence and into that fragile term regarding which Georges Bataille wrote: Of all words, it is the most poetic and the most perverse: it is itself the proof of its own death. As a consequence of this condition, silence is a chameleon-like concept, non-absolute and whose meaning varies radically depending on its context.

“As the silence is also considered to be unspoken, the term of silence becomes extremely painful and far-reaching. But, for example, in the case of the Armenian nation and its destiny one hundred years ago, the silence of its history still carries echoes that new generations can hear.

“This study of silence examines its phenomenon step by step towards a minimum amount of information. Whether the silence is about the reverse of sound, human beings inner silence or the unspoken, my aim with the bare scale of colours and docility of disfigured brush strokes is to support the compositions of silence and to enhance its echoes.”