David Ambarzumjan's Paintings Crack Time Open With a Single Brushstroke

Time as if it’s already cracked.

His Brushstrokes in Time series starts with a recognizable world: a rain-slicked city street, a desert at dusk, a cobblestone bridge catching early light.

Then a thick, sculptural stroke of oil paint tears across the canvas, splitting the scene open.

A surreal painting of a whale breaching from a vibrant blue ocean amidst a desert landscape, with sandy dunes under a light brown sky.

Behind it, or within it, a different era bleeds through. The brushstroke is at once a mark of the artist’s hand and a rupture in history.

What makes these paintings land isn’t the concept alone. It’s the specificity of the collision. Ambarzumjan isn’t just juxtaposing old and new, he’s questioning what connects them and what the hand that changed everything actually leaves behind.

A surreal scene depicting a large wave crashing over a decaying city landscape, blending elements of nature with urban decay. The foreground features overgrown vegetation and a rusted car, while a modern building stands in the background under a moody sky.

His stated intent is to explore how nature’s transformation over time tracks against humanity’s influence. That framing keeps each piece tethered to something real, even as the imagery tips toward the surreal.