“I want to draw him” is a publication about the oeuvre of the artist Narine Grigoryan, conceived and produced by Daria Pelekhay and Naty Peralta Durán, recent graduates of Visual Communication and Iconic Research at HGK FHNW Basel, Switzerland. The title was created during the course Art Direction – The Book as Exhibition lead by Marion Fink, in which the theme was pursued by developing a catalog for a chosen artist, photographer or curated exhibition, with the aim to abandon the characteristics of conventional catalogs and instead to open a quasi-space between gallery art and mass-produced book.
Narine Grigoryan’s sketches tell us stories she witnessed, observed and depicted on the streets of the three cities over the past 20 years
“I want to draw him” contains sketches that the contemporary artist Narine Grigoryan has made during the last twenty years in the streets of Yerevan, Paris, and Basel.
These cities influenced not only Grigoryan’s life but the development and evolution of her artistic style. Grigoryan’s drawings tell us human stories that she witnessed, observed and depicted on the streets of the three cities, showing the uniqueness of the characters and their relationships.
“Her drawings represent one of a kind of visual communication and as it seems even the most insignificant details in her sketches allow the viewer to feel the atmosphere of the city, different specialties of human behavior and their culture of communication”, the designers, Pelekhay and Peralta Durán explain.
Her drawings represent one of a kind of visual communication and as it seems even the most insignificant details in her sketches allow the viewer to feel the atmosphere of the city, different specialties of human behavior and their culture of communication.
“It became a milestone for our concept. The next crucial point was to keep the original colors and qualities of the sketch paper. Therefore, the chapters in this book have different tints because they correspond with each period of the artist’s life. We applied the transparent paper to create layered images to show how we can interpret human emotions in different ways and what impact it could have on our perception of the relationships”, Pelekhay and Peralta Durán continue.
The three chapters, Yerevan, Paris, Basel, guides the reader through various stages of the life of the German artist with Armenian roots, her personal story, explorations of paper and tools, and body of work. Supporting the concept, the design details from three different paper qualities matching the original sketch papers, to an open-back binding and cardboard cover with a transparent slipcover, make “I want to draw him” a charming art book which beautifully recites the story and work of Narine Grigoryan.
Images © Daria Pelekhay, Naty Peralta Durán