Jean Boghossian is a man of many cultures – he was born in Aleppo into a family that fled the Armenian genocide and spent his youth in Lebanon before settling in Belgium – heartbreak, exodus, but also hope feed his work. His medium: the flame. Pushing abstraction into the realm of convulsion, he looks to free himself from structure, letting fire transcend the limitations of canvas, clay, pigment and pen. A tireless experimenter, no material resists him. In his Brussels studio, he plays with the blowtorch as one would play with a brush – wooden, marble or bronze sculptures and acrylic paintings undergo the same treatment.
Exhibited by the Société des Bains de Mer (SBM) in Monte-Carlo in the spring of 2023, his works dress the gardens and establishments of the famous Monégasque district with their airy heaviness. This carte blanche given to him by the SBM on the theme “The Sea is Green” allows Jean Boghossian to explore the multiple facets of his creativity, his inspirations and his aspirations. The paintings selected by Opera Gallery Monaco illustrate the artist’s melancholic relationship with the world and its past, his love of the ocean and the fragility of ordinary materials.