"I never think about composition, I rely fully on my subconscious, intuitive vision, which is cold and impartial like photo cameras."(1) At first glance, this self-evaluative description by Varouzhan Nazaretyan is not immediately evident in his photographs. The almost architectural precision of his extremely structured images, appears to deliberately transform daily, banal spaces into abstract, pictorial relations. Metamorphosed into pure geometrical shapes and surfaces, this is a world located outside of a social and political context, as material for aesthetic and self-conscious contemplation.

In such works, Nazaretyan seems to be trying to figure out what the essential function of photography is. As the author himself notes, “colour or black-and-white graphics - this is the question that occupies me. I have not yet figured out whether or not the colour has a place in art photography."(2) By studying the ‘lifeless’ environment, the photographer seeks the import of objects and their relationships, by believing that photography – as a form of ‘optical unconscious’ - can approach the true significance of that meaning.

Nazaretyan's works have been published in Arvest (Art) and Garun (Spring) magazines. In the 1990s, the photographer moved to the United States and currently resides in Los Angeles.

1) ‘Varouzhan Nazaretyan’ [in Armenian], Arvest, nos.2-3, 1991

2) ibid.

Vigen Galstyan, 2016