LESSONS FROM MORI
LESSONS FROM MORI
Marc Guiragossian8 May - 29 May 2025
PRESS RELEASE
Marc Guiragossian (b.1995) is a painter based between Berlin and London. Primarily an expressive painter, Guiragossian is inspired by the full breadth of art history: from cave paintings, to renaissance masters to the twentieth century avant-garde. The paintings on view in Lessons From Mori were created during a two month residency with the gallery in London.
Guiragossian’s art historical referencing is instinctive. One moment there is a detail inspired by Rubens, then Cy Twombly; Raphael and Jean Debuffet; El Greco and Matisse. The result is highly informed paintings that are intuitive in their execution. The primary concern of the artist is to induce a visceral response. Guiragossian grew up in a household dominated by artists - both his father and grandfather were painters. Notably, his grandfather Paul Guiragossian (1926-1993) cast a large shadow despite never meeting him.
Guiragossian moved from Beirut to Dresden in 2006, to London in 2016 and to Berlin in 2018. Growing up in different cities and countries meant that a sense of refuge was found in his father’s studios and in art galleries. ‘All I did after school was sit in my father’s studio and draw’. Citing the first time he saw Rubens: ‘it was a symphony of colour’. ‘That is how I see today - in that same colour’.
For Guiragossian, art is a potent vehicle by which one can find the meaning of life. A nod to the significance for which he considers the creative act is the name of the exhibition: Lessons From Mori. Taken from the latin term Memento Mori Guiragossian hints at the brushes with death he himself has experienced; both in war and in his personal life. Within these moments art prevails as the purest - most essential - form of expression. Lessons From Mori is Guiragossian’s first solo exhibition in London and first with the gallery.
Lucas Kearsey, Director
