The Act of Painting as Process and Temporal Trace in the Work of Olga Barmazi
Presenting a visual voice through the website of our initiative Ink on Paper is always an act of encounter — between the work itself, the discourse that approaches it, and the audience that receives it. In this spirit, we publish the text by art curator Paris Kapralos on the work of Olga Barmazi, written in the context of her active participation in the official community of artists we maintain.
This initiative forms a stable core of creators who work with consistency and a research-driven orientation around paper and ink, fostering dialogue on contemporary forms of expression within the medium.
The publication of this article on our website reflects our core commitment to highlighting the work of members of our community through well-documented, signed critical texts that illuminate their creative trajectory with substantive theoretical and aesthetic analysis.
Through this publication, we seek to contribute to a vibrant and intellectually rigorous dialogue on contemporary visual art, giving space to the thought that generates the work and to the reflection that accompanies it.
More information about the artist is available on her website HERE.
– Curatorial Team of the initiative INK ON PAPER
The core of Olga Barmazi’s visual practice is located within a gestural, fluid abstraction in which the line operates simultaneously as a trace of movement, a temporal imprint and a carrier of meaning. The line records the duration of the act and the corporeality of the gesture. The mark remains visible, unidealised and uncorrected, bearing witness to the movement of the hand and to the inner tension inscribed upon the pictorial surface.
Within this framework, her work presents clear affinities with Abstract Expressionism, particularly in its emphasis on gestural writing, the physicality of the act and the registration of inner intensity. The movement of the hand remains evident and unrefined, and the trace is preserved as testimony to both the act itself and its duration. The painterly gesture retains its immediacy and physical force.
At the same time, her practice aligns with Lyrical Abstraction, as the curvilinear flow, undulations and repetitive movements evoke a lyrical understanding of the abstract. Form undergoes continuous transformation, almost musically, through flow and repetition. The line functions rhythmically, allowing the painting to unfold as a process of constant variation and dynamic development.
The use of ink, together with stains, splashes and dense, neural-like networks of lines, connects her work to Automatism and post-Surrealist drawing. The forms activate psychic automatism through a controlled spontaneity shaped by a balance between flow and conscious composition. The gesture unfolds freely while simultaneously organising the pictorial surface through a coherent structure. The mark develops as a field of spontaneous inscription and deliberate spatial construction.
Her works invite interpretation through contemporary ecological and systemic perspectives. Linear structures and fluid forms resonate with notions such as networks, flows, memory, body and energy. The imagery alludes both to natural phenomena—currents, cells, roots and neurons—and to abstract systems of information. The pictorial surface becomes a site where organic and systemic structures coexist.
The theoretical approach to her work may be articulated through the concept of the line as event. Drawing functions as a field of meaning-production. Each curve, interruption and stain constitutes a temporal occurrence. Ink operates as fluid thought and as a form of embodied memory directly inscribed onto paper. The repetition of flows generates a visual oscillation through which the gaze moves between microstructures and macrostructures.
From a historical perspective, the work is inscribed within the long tradition of abstract gestural practice of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with references to post-war abstraction and experimental uses of ink as a primary medium. It develops a critical dialogue with these traditions by incorporating contemporary concerns related to memory, fluidity and systems of connection. The choice of paper and the emphasis on the trace establish an immediate, almost diaristic relationship with the act of painting.
The artist’s relationship to her practice is also deeply connected to the process of sumi-e. This influence manifests as dedication to process, concentration on gesture and an acceptance of flow. Her affinity for curves, movement and music consistently permeates her work. She approaches the image as an autonomous language and seeks for it to function as image—through its own visual presence.
– Paris Kapralos, Art Curator
