Karina Yacoubian

Silence not as peace, but as a shield.

In a world saturated with noise and over information, sensory anesthesia becomes a deliberate stance. The dense, heavily textured layer smothers the external din; underneath, the form dissolves into a cold, unyielding calm. Shutting out the noise to protect what’s within."

Karina Yacoubian with her painting Metamorphosis, Pure White Reinvention series

Karina Yacoubian builds monochrome wall reliefs from plaster, paper, mineral compounds and salvaged materials, then works the structure in acrylic, oil and spray paint. Trained in architecture, self-taught as a painter and shaped by life in four countries before settling in Belgium, she approaches each relief as a construction in which gesture becomes matter and white becomes a field of light: folds rise and recede, and shadow becomes part of the structure of the work.

Her early paintings, large canvases in saturated colour, drew on Abstract Expressionism. Since 2021 her ongoing Pure White series has entered into a quiet dialogue with the tradition of the white monochrome. Pure White Reinvention, which followed, lets the human figure, nature and colour surface again from the same white ground.

Her work is held in private collections in Belgium, Italy, Spain, the United States, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay.

Karina Yacoubian-Visual Artist

ART & ARCHITECTURE

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Art living spaces by Karina Yacoubian

“White is not an absence, but a silent space full of potential, where transformed materials become pure texture, inviting you to experience freedom through light and relief.”

Living spaces

White relief from the Pure White series by Karina Yacoubian in a modern interior

White wall relief by Karina Yacoubian in a living room

Silence, white and yellow relief from the Pure White series by Karina Yacoubian, on display

Interior visualisation with artwork by Karina Yacoubian

Relief face artwork by Karina Yacoubian in a living room

The Silence by Karina Yacoubian, Pure White Reinvention series, in an interior

Blue figure painting from the Pure White Reinvention series by Karina Yacoubian

Metamorphosis by Karina Yacoubian, Pure White Reinvention series, in a bedroom

Outlook by Karina Yacoubian, blue portrait from the Pure White Reinvention series

Introspection by Karina Yacoubian, Pure White Reinvention series, in a bedroom

Artist Statement

Trained in architecture, I approach each relief as a building: I construct the structure first, and I design it for the light it will receive.

I build from recovered matter. Fragments of metal, plastic and cardboard are folded with rice paper, Amalfi paper, plaster and mineral compounds until they lose their former use and become structure. White erases the history of each material and leaves volume, edge and hollow: the forms light needs in order to speak.

For me, light and architecture are a single language. Light does not illuminate the work; it tells it, and it tells it differently every hour. Each relief is completed by the light of the place that receives it, and by the time a viewer is willing to give it.

— Karina Yacoubian

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Blue portrait from the Pure White Reinvention series by Karina Yacoubian, shown in an interior

Redefine your perspective