Takuk the painter is also Takui Akopyan the renowned actress with over 65 years of stage, television and film experience. Holder of the “Vastagavor” title, the highest rank for an artist in the Soviet Union, she has traveled worldwide performing at prestigious venues. Takui was in her late teens when the family moved from Greece to Armenia. She wanted to study art, but her talent on stage took her on a different path leading her to acting school and culminating in a successful theatrical career. Even then she always had a sketchpad and drew portraits of her fellow performers.
“As a child all I wanted to do was paint in bright and vivid colors” she says, “but this was during WWII.” Needless to say times were tough then and color was a luxury. On every occasion Takui drew as soon as she would find some paper and a pencil. Later, she would close her eyes and imagine all the colors she wanted to see in those black and white pencil drawings.
Some 20 years ago as she was flipping through a magazine she noticed, once again, the beautiful colors throughout the pages. “It came to me just like that!” She says, as she snaps her fingers to indicate the speed of her thought. “Why let these great colors go to waste? Why not re-use them to create something even greater?” She started working on a little collage, cutting small pieces of different colored papers from magazines and pasting them on a picture to create flowers, then mountains, then a river, as a gift to a friend. Slowly the original picture was covered with tiny colorful cut-outs transforming it into an entirely different image. This was the birth of her new passion. For a person with such diverse talents, singing, acting and writing poetry, a new layer of creativity was uncovered and once again she found her muse. “I could see all the colors that had danced in my imagination for years come together when I created this collage on a piece of recycled cardboard,” she explained. “I couldn’t work fast enough to pour out all that was inside of me onto my newly discovered medium," she said, as her eyes widened and sparkled with excitement. She had discovered a new love in her life: recycling colors.
In her apartment, Takuk finds herself surrounded with countless images she has created over the past years. Her works range from beautiful flowers, to interesting and expressive characters, magical landscapes; so much color created from her imagination, memories, experiences and emotions. Working countless hours, spending many a sleepless night, cutting and pasting, she is always improving the process through trial and error. Every piece is created solely from recycled materials. Through patience and thousands of colorful bits of paper ranging from tissue paper to magazine pages, she creates a palette with depth and texture. Her ability to capture the
psychological qualities of light and shadow, and transpose them to her work, is remarkable. After months of pasting these pieces in just the right places, a unique work of art is born. One must look up close to realize that these are no ordinary acrylic, watercolor or oil paintings, but simply paper given a new life as something greater.
This is the first exhibit of her work and will only be for one day, at the Notte Luna Restaurant 113 N. Maryland Ave, Glendale, on Sunday August 26th from 4-10 PM.
Wine reception from 4-5 and silent auction begins at 5. She will also be showing how she makes these amazing images from 4-5. Admission is free.
