Nina Khemchyan: Vive la couleur !

Bringing together a collection of previously unseen ceramic sculptures, the exhibition explores a body of work where material is never a mere substrate, but rather a site of memory, transformation, and sentient thought.

 

For over two decades, Nina Khemchyan has cultivated an immediately identifiable formal vocabulary centered on the sphere. This primordial form, simultaneously a matrix, a self-contained world, and an infinite expanse, serves less as a repetitive motif than as a field for sculptural experimentation. By embracing this constrained volume, the artist paradoxically unveils a space of profound freedom: every surface variation, every incision, and every chromatic modulation becomes a singular event.

 

While Nina Khemchyan’s aesthetic was once characterized by a certain chromatic minimalism, this year she celebrates the power of color. Here, color is never subordinate to form; rather, it constitutes its internal intensity. Matte golds, deep blues, and mineral reds establish distinct light regimes across the surface. This polychromy acts as the sculpture’s very breath, revealing reliefs, tensions, and zones of silence. Through this exhibition, the artist demonstrates her mastery of the duality between light and shadow.

 

This new direction, first glimpsed in her project for the 2024 Venice Biennale, is the artist’s response to the turbulence of modern times: a true "Ode to Joy." Nina Khemchyan invites us to rediscover the beauty in simplicity and everyday objects, while simultaneously guiding us toward a reflection on the infinite.

 

With this inaugural exhibition of Nina Khemchyan, PM GALLERY continues its artistic mission: supporting artists whose work fosters a fertile dialogue between formal traditions, living memory, and contemporary creation. Nina Khemchyan’s practice serves as a reminder that sculpture can still be a space for concentration, slowness, and inward experience.