by Rosario Teixeira

When I first walked into Varoujan's studio I became speechless, my eyes became mesmerized by the beauty of his paintings all around me. Twenty years had passed since I had left Europe, where I combed the museums and art galleries of Paris, Lisbon, and Luxembourg. The School of Fine Arts was always a place to discover new artists and find old masters. As a student, I was inspired by them and developed my own expression, but I never felt my heart stopping as when I found myself surrounded by Varoujan's art. Something snapped inside me as if this was what I had been missing.

Over the years, very few pieces touched me beyond the appreciation of technique, design and composition. Standing in the middle of Varoujan's living room, my heart stopped and suddenly all words vanished from my vocabulary. The images found their way in through my eyes and housed themselves deep inside me. I had found what I didn't know I was looking to find. A dream world of beauty where the sublime sentiments of love, joy and harmony expand themselves into all areas of one's life in this created universe. The blue rose, the most delicate of all hybrid tea roses, is love that will vanish if not properly cared for. The ladies are waiting for a soul mate, the perfect gentleman who will take them to the land where dreams and desires are consummated, in the communion of life. Mediterranean ladies are covered with gold brocade, playing string instruments with mysterious smiles, in between the seriousness of their intentions and the knowledge of where they are going...

I found my dreams in his creations and babbled half words and broken sentences before the man who smiled at me inviting me to sit. His welcoming at the door was an invitation to get into his universe. Sensing my appreciation for his art, this tall and proud man was humbled and asked me the obvious, "Do you like my paintings?"