Marc Balakjian Abstract Prints

Marc Balakjian was enigmatic in his subject matter creating images that are disturbing in their ambiguity. Is this image just striped fabric tied with ropes on a platform or is this is a flag-draped coffin symbolizing those who passed "in memory of an historic phrase"? Politicians may turn the phrase but a price must be paid. This small edition mezzotint was created in 1975 in an edition of only 5. Armenian by descent, Marc Balakjian was raised in Lebanon. He spent his early years in the small town of Rayak, before moving to Beirut at the age of 10. He came to England in 1966, initially to study architecture with a firm in Oxford. He then decided to study art at Hammersmith College of Art and took up a postgraduate degree in printmaking at the Slade School of Art in 1971. After graduating he began working at Studio Prints in 1973, just as it was establishing itself in Queen’s Crescent. By 1976 he had become a full time partner, collaborating with other artists as well as continuing his own work, much of which is inspired by his Armenian and Lebanese culture and heritage. By the 1980s work was falling off, so Balakjian and Studio Prints introduced in-house plate-making to serve painters and sculptors who had little experience with printmaking. Artists such as Leon Kossoff, Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud and Ken Kiff...

This image is from an edition of 50. The artist's subject matter was enigmatic: a recurring theme was that of anonymous packages tied with knots of rope; sometimes there are prison bars...

This image is an artist proof and is annotated VIII / VIII The artist's subject matter was enigmatic: a recurring theme was that of anonymous packages tied with knots of rope; sometimes there are prison bars...