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Meruzh Mazmanyan
1.1k Plays1 year ago
Meruzhan Mazmanyan is an Armenian-American artist from the Portland, Oregon Metro area.
In a variety of mediums, Meruzhan uses his artwork as a way to send a message; from political propaganda posters, to sci-fi comics, to still life paintings. He feels that the purpose of art is to make a statement, and he makes that clear with pieces commenting on the American dream, consumerism, genocide, and more.
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Transcript
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host Ken Volante. Editor and producer Peter Bauer.
Introduction of Marouche Mazmanyan
00:00:16
Speaker
This is Ken Vellante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast and for me this is a long-awaited episode and I'm very very happy to introduce you to Marouche Mazmanyan and somebody who has contributed to the zine
00:00:33
Speaker
We'll be having the cover for the zine issue number two with the focus on indigenous communities and resistance. And of course, from the zine issue one, Marouche, fantastic cover, which I'll include a link here in the show. But just wanted to welcome you to the show, Marouche. Well, thank you. I'm excited to be here.
00:00:57
Speaker
It's great. It's been great to see
Artistic Journey Begins
00:01:00
Speaker
your art. I've seen on Instagram and of course, you know, know you and been able to talk to you directly. I know, you know, your love of music and comic books and culture and stickers. And I'm sorry, I forgot to bring you something rather than stickers.
00:01:18
Speaker
I would have brought mine, but I forgot. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, uh, I wanted to start right off the, off the Baton Rouge with, um, just when, uh, when and how you see yourself, uh, as an artist, uh, talking about your art. Oh, well, what do you mean when and how? Just, uh, when you saw yourself, uh, as an artist, like when you're like, you felt that, that you were an artist and then, uh, developing that.
00:01:45
Speaker
Well, I mean, I kind of, I've been drawing since I was, you know, as soon as I could pick up a pencil, but I didn't really think I could do it professionally until my freshman year of college. Do you want to hear the little short story of how it came to be? So I was a psych major and I was doing fine. It was good, but I had to get an elective. So I took the sculpting class and it kind of reminded me of how much I love working with my hands and I,
00:02:14
Speaker
put my all every week into like making the best possible sculpture every week until my my professor contacted me via email with this long ass like essay of an email telling me that I should pursue this and that my work stood out to her and it just made me kind of like oh shit maybe I could do something with it it took me a while to really
00:02:40
Speaker
think about it and decide, but after a few months, I was like, yeah, I definitely need to drop the psych thing and go, you know, full, you know.
00:02:50
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of psychology in art as well. One of the things about your work and what I've seen is it has a great intensity to the lines and also extremely expressive in telling a story.
00:03:14
Speaker
I've seen your work, you know, in kind of like sequential format and like, you know, comic books like from panel to panel. And I know you have a like a recent or just like a strong interest in like looking at that form of sequential art in comics. Where are you with that? And like, how do you view like comics as a way of telling a story you want to tell?
Passion for Sequential Art
00:03:40
Speaker
I mean, for me, it was always like, you know, being a little kid with ADHD, it's really hard for me to follow a page. So I was always drawn to picture books being comics. But I've kind of realized like the comic book is just like sequential art in general is really powerful because
00:03:58
Speaker
Or at least in my case, I wrote, I thought of this story, which I wanted to make until like, in my head, it was an indie film, but I don't have the budget or time or energy to make a movie. I'm not a film producer. So I just decided to draw it instead for this comic book class. Every week, the assignment was make three panels for a story. And I was like, I already know the story. It's gonna be that movie idea I had. And that's how that came to be.
00:04:29
Speaker
So, you know, sequential art's awesome. I mean, you make drawings move, it's cool. Yeah, yeah, I've always, it's one of the things I really like about, I think about in photography of like, you know, enjoying photography and people enjoy photography enjoy.
00:04:45
Speaker
film because it's just the thousands of photographs kind of like right next to each other and you know I think about you know the the art and comics of individual panels telling a story it there's something about like the words and images that kind of like
00:05:04
Speaker
I know when I'm reading them sometimes it's like, I'm kind of in my movie. Like I'm in a movie because of the, maybe it's the energy and motion in them. Yeah. Cause like once you get, if it's good writing, it'll get you in the zone and then you kind of forget you're reading a book and it just kind of becomes like an animated movie or at least in my head. That's how I, how it becomes for me. Yeah. It works similar in, in, in my head and the something rather than nothing podcast chat a lot about, um,
00:05:32
Speaker
It's art and philosophy. And, you know, I know you think about art. I was wondering what your thoughts on what art is, like, as you're trying to create it.
Art's Communicative Power
00:05:43
Speaker
What do you think? What is art? Right. I mean, it's different for everyone who creates it. I think some people like to make art just aesthetically. It's like, oh, I made a cool picture to look at. And that's awesome. The way I've always went about it, or at least in what I put out,
00:06:02
Speaker
It's always been kind of like, I use it as, there's always a point to it, you know what I mean? It's trying to say something, whether it's a political message or just commentary on social, you know, issues or just anything. It doesn't have to be an issue or a negative, just any sort of message. I'd always try to use art to communicate that. So that's how I use it.
00:06:27
Speaker
Yeah. And connected to that, a question I ask of guests is, do you feel like the role of art has changed with now in this world? It's 2023 recording here in July. Other folks are like, art's always kind of like arting and does what it does. Do you think the role of art has changed recently? That's a good question.
00:06:56
Speaker
I mean yes and no because like well what do you mean by change in terms of like art will always be art for some people it's something to put in your house as decor for some people they see in a gallery setting to make it you know a thematic it's all together the role I feel like has shifted in the past like maybe hundred years slowly to what it is now I don't know it
00:07:24
Speaker
I don't know. This question kind of stumped me. No, no. Hey, I stumped myself with a lot of these, too. I wanted to jump to something else, Marouche. When we first met, I told you a bit about a good friend of mine who had taught me about the Armenian people and about Armenian history.
00:07:45
Speaker
And through her father and herself, they're really good friends of mine in San Francisco. And I know I've seen your work and there's a, not the word commentary, but there's a political edge to it. There's an expressive energy of resistance. Can you talk a little bit about your work in that regard?
Art Reflecting Armenian Issues
00:08:10
Speaker
yeah so a lot of my work came to in terms of pertaining to the army and genocide it was a lot of just like frustration uh mind you i only started taking this whole art thing serious in terms of wanting to show people what i do and since like maybe 2020 so in uh at that time there's been a lot of frustration with
00:08:32
Speaker
If you know the history of Armenians, in 2020, the Azeris, which had a proxy with Turkey, came back for Aksakh, a piece of land that was historically Armenian. It was taken away from us, just another piece of land taken away from us a hundred years after the genocide. So there was a lot of frustration and pain and like, realizing, oh, no one really gives a shit, no one's posting about it like,
00:09:01
Speaker
You know, like what happened with Ukraine where it became a big topic and everything's really talked about and people are aware of it. The same thing didn't happen for us and it was just frustrating. So I was like, well how are people gonna... I could just repost some article that no one's gonna read or I could make a cool piece of art and the whole focus of it is the issue. Maybe that way people would actually pay attention to it.
00:09:24
Speaker
I mean I thank you for that because I think it's so important for me like I engage in politics and labor and one of the things I know is that you have to you have to kind of disrupt certain modes of thinking or in order to bring attention to something you have to get attention to bring attention you have to and I always think that art whether it's like I think like maybe punk music and art like
00:09:50
Speaker
I have to get in your face and get your attention to do anything, right? Yeah. Interesting you mentioned punk. I always thought of my work, like what punk rock is in terms of music, the sound, what it is, the point, the message. That's kind of what I do with my paintings and drawings. I'm not saying, oh, this is punk painting or punk drawing, but it's just like, I feel like there's a lot of similar themes in punk music and what I do.
00:10:19
Speaker
whether it's the political message or the gritty approach to producing it.
00:10:24
Speaker
Yeah, I like it. The gritty DIY part of it, but also like there's an expressive edge to it, like even the movement in your drawings that I see there. There's a like a there's a movement that almost seems like expressive and punk and just like the way that the folks are moving around, just kind of like it pulls your attention. And of course, I'm thinking about zines and, you know, your debut.
00:10:54
Speaker
on the something rather than nothing scene is like a DIY. Hey, we need to we need to see cool art by folks around the world, but in Portland as well, which includes your art. It's like, all right, let's put this out there. Let's show this. And it wasn't there before. And now it is. And I love that you're part of that.
Philosophical Exchange
00:11:15
Speaker
OK, I wanted to jump to one of the bigger the big questions on the show. And I know you.
00:11:21
Speaker
I don't know if you get a kick out of this. I don't know if guess do in general, but um adding the wacky question um Why is there something rather than nothing? Yeah, I mean I've pondered this question a lot, and it's just such an abstract broad question That's just like how do you like how the fuck do I answer that shit, man? Why is there something rather than nothing? Because if there was nothing then how is something is?
00:11:49
Speaker
There is something Marouche has hit it. I never want to interrupt. I never want to interrupt the interview, but you did find the kind of fault line in the question because there's something funny about asking it because you have to be in order to ask. Because nothing can't not be.
00:12:10
Speaker
It has to be for it to IS be. One of the funny parts about, you know, I've studied philosophy and I do the philosophy show, I think what's really important is that most of the serious discussions and like even asking this question, I found it like a great joy and a lot of people find happiness in philosophy because it is a fucking joke.
00:12:39
Speaker
like there's something so silly about asking profound questions knowing that we don't know there's like an absurdity that I've always appreciated and just it seems fun to me and it's fun to talk about
00:12:57
Speaker
so listeners so you know we're recording uh... from the loyd center in uh... portland and um... uh... with with marouche and uh... nearby there's the floating world comics uh... publisher in store i'll actually publisher of uh... guests that i've had on the show on the santo sisters and so the ambience hearing is uh... is is the local and environment here in portland
Connecting with Marouche's Art
00:13:23
Speaker
Marouge, before I let you go, I really wanted you to kind of lay out to listeners, because you've got a lot of listeners, where to come in contact with your work, you know, outside of the zines of which the show will put out, so listeners know SRTN, something rather than nothing, zine issue one with Marouge's artwork, both inside and on the cover is available. And the second one,
00:13:52
Speaker
Outside of the zine, which the podcast handles, where do folks find your work? How did they connect with you? Yeah, so I'm in the process of building a website and stuff like that and getting a gallery going. I was going to have one recently, but the venue just wasn't right. So I'm going to keep looking. But, uh, in the meantime, just my Instagram measures 24 spell M E R U Z H eight, uh, 24.
00:14:21
Speaker
And that's about it for the meantime, but pretty soon I will have a website up. But you could hit me up on there for anything, whether you want to buy a piece or request a commission, anything like that.
Supporting Local Artists
00:14:35
Speaker
yeah well thank you and uh... courage everybody and i've been able to enjoy i we uh... within uh... the podcast um... wanna thank you marouche for your contributions and um... like i said i get pretty jazzed about your your your art and and and having you on the on those covers and
00:14:52
Speaker
I think one important thing is when we're talking DIY is like get yourself, you know I'm saying this to the listeners, get yourself a copy of something, get Marouche's artwork, get that album or single or cassette from a band, support your artists who are doing great stuff and that includes you Marouche. So I want to thank you for visiting the Something Rather than Nothing podcast and folks keep an eye
00:15:19
Speaker
with something rather than nothing seen issued to you'll see Maruja's fine work on that cover you'll see more from him coming forward but thanks again for popping on the show
00:15:32
Speaker
I really appreciate everything you've done for me. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Yeah, I have to support the art. Maruj Mazmanyan. Remember, check out the Instagram. Check out this episode of the podcast and the zine, and we'll talk to you soon. Have a great day. This is something rather than nothing.