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Friday, May 12, 2006
www.elvaq.com
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
karlin
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Photos by Jason Castro
“Delia’s Demise,” illustrates all of the creepy things that happen when the clock strikes midnight. Karlin’s works were on display at the Gallery Annex in the month of April.
By Olga Ramaz
EL VAQUERO ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
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sk artist Karlin Hovasapian to paint a still life illustrating a fruit bowl and tea cups, and she would probably decline. Ask her to paint a picture of a young child gripped in the ravenous jaws of an octopus, and she would do it in a heartbeat. One drawing and painting after another, she reaches into the depths of her imagination and spawns a netherworld of full of brightly slathered color and offbeat characters that serve as a diversion from the satirical, yet dark, undertones that exist in her works. Karlin has been drawing since her early childhood and now, at 23, she recalls playtime as a time where she would sit in a corner and sketch. “My toys growing up were crayons and pencils,” she said. “I didn’t really play too much with other kinds of things because I was too busy drawing.” Her early drawings were much like the works she creates today. She is fixated on drawing little girls, all with big eyes, Mona Lisa smiles and sinister glares that beckon to be seen. Curiously enough, the little girls drawn from her imagination bear a striking resemblance
to herself when she was younger. She recalls many times when she would present a new drawing to her father who would jokingly blurt, “it’s another self portrait.” “I think that a lot of artists, they don’t know it, but certain traits of themselves come out in the artwork,” she said. The genre that Karlin caters to, pop surrealism, for the most part, consists of cleverly eye-catching artwork. Mark Ryden, one of the genre’s most prominent figures and Karlin’s favorite artist, creates the type of works that she aspires to. “Mark Ryden’s stuff is just overwhelmingly beautiful,” she said. “Not only is he classically good, he goes above and beyond with his detailed, complicated and humorous imagination.” It was not until high school that Karlin’s interest in the arts started to take a more serious turn. During these years, Karlin learned about various careers open to artists. She then realized that she could make a living creating art. In high school, Karlin won several small contests here and there for designing bookmarks, book jackets and CD covers, which is something that she still does. Karlin has some friends in local bands who have paid her for doing their album covers.
“I’ve pocketed some cash through some freelance work here and there, but above all, it [doing freelance work] was all about the challenge to work as an illustrator,” said Karlin. “As an illustrator the point is to get a general idea from someone and see if you can visualize and create what they’re looking for.” Karlin has had her work on display on a large scale at Herbert Hoover High School, her alma mater, where selected art students had the opportunity to paint a mural on a wall of the art building. Unfortunately, the mural was painted over two years ago. Karlin has had the good fortune to have her works showcased in small, local galleries, clubs, at Borders bookstore in Glendale, and, more recently, in the Gallery Annex on campus. I think that as an artist who wants to get her work out there, it’s so incredibly important to take ever opportunity that comes to you,” said Karlin. “And I guess I was just lucky enough to have my work up.” Jody Smith, Gallery Annex coordinator, first met Karlin in a painting class. The following year, Smith saw her work on display at Borders and was left in awe. “Particularly her drawings, her attention to detail is immaculate,” said Smith.
According to Smith, Karlin’s works managed to draw several people’s attention from across the room and into the Gallery Annex to check out her work. “Within these females she draws, there’s such intricate, detailed patterns that are somewhat three dimensional versus being really flat,” said Smith. “She really understands detail and has a really good understanding of what a trained artist should do.” One of the things Smith admires about Karlin is her family. Throughout Karlin’s artistic career, her parents have been cheerleaders for their eldest daughter. While her father tells her that she will make it as an artist and encourages her to continue to pursue her passion, her mother’s “tough love,” according to Karlin, inspires her to be more detail oriented and practice her craft. Linka, Karlin’s younger sister who is also a GCC student, admires her sister’s accomplishments and admits that seeing Karlin succeed is not only
a proud moment for Karlin, but for her as well. “One of the greatest things that has ever happened in my life is being able to see her prevail,” said Linka. Linka is an artist herself, but unlike Karlin, she doesn’t draw, she’s a poet. Actually, it’s in Karlin’s plans for the future to someday combine both their talents in a book, Linka writes while Karlin does the illustrations to go along with the story line. Karlin’s little sister thinks back and tries to put a finger on when exactly Karlin started drawing seriously, but she cannot seem to find an answer. “She’s been drawing ever since I remember,” she said. One of Linka’s favorite things to do is to go into Karlin’s bedroom, not so much to snoop around and dig through her stuff, but to sit back and stare at her drawings. She is amazed to see every step of the creative process, [See Karlin, page 13]