Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Anna Petrosyan

Landscape with Amorphous Peppers and Spiders

Spiders are feminine spirits. They taught people the art of weaving and about the interconnectedness of the universe.

“Landscape with Amorphous Peppers and Spiders is surrealist snowy landscape painting fused with spiritual symbolism. Most of the canvas is dominated by two large yellow peppers that seem to be squished and deformed. On top of the peppers, white-and-black patterned spiders are crawling. Although spiders are often read as “creepy, ugly, disgusting” insects from horror movies, in many cultures, including Armenian, spiders are feminine spirits. Spiders taught people the art of weaving and about the interconnectedness of the universe. It was crucial to paint the spiders and peppers with meticulous detail, yet leave space for ambiguity and mystery. These intentional omissions give power to the painting since the painting does not fully reveal itself to the viewer. Usually, the image often functions as an object of consumption: the viewer consumes what the painting depicts and does not leave time for more careful observation and reflection. Ambiguity creates space for reflection and makes a painting more difficult to digest. ”