Hratch Babikian, Shy Woman II, 2008
Wood, ink, bronze, and steel
24” x 10” x 2”
Courtesy of the artist

Hratch Babikian
Origins, visited
June 12 - October 18, 2009

Hratch Babikian creates jewelry, small objects, and sculptures that feel both ancient and modern.  Using an array of metals, stones, paper, and woods such as lacewood, holly, and poplar, he relies on a combination of Old World craftsmanship and technological advances in adhesive and mechanical processes.  With drawings and precise measurements, he creates templates and models in wax or paper that become references for formal and compositional experimentation before cutting into the metal, wood, or stone.  Once he has finalized design decisions, he begins with the metal either by cutting from bar or sheet stock or hand-pouring alloy ingots depending on the color and thickness of the metal.  He then forges the metal—hollowing and forming according to the templates and studies, and carves the other materials, fitting all the elements together into bold, sinewy forms.  To Babikian, the creative aspect requires “different skills and knowledge of math, chemistry, and hand-eye coordination” and the reward of the labor-intensive craftsmanship is “when the piece comes together in perfectly fluid harmony.” Imbuing the objects with his thoughts and feelings, he draws from the years of his youth in and around the coasts of Lebanon and tries to capture the spirit and the energy of his time “running around the Mediterranean coast, collecting shells and watching aquatic life in the rocky pools against the backdrop of a bubbling Civil War.”  His creations are elegant combinations of whimsy and muscle, straddling that line between the warm and sensuous and the cool and austere.