Robert Barsamian’s paintings and installations pieces in Bizarro are specific to historic events and their contemporary relevance. 

 

In one image the magician Bizzaro conjures up catastrophic political events that affect women and children and keeps them in separate bubbles of suffering. Barsamian continues to use bold coloration palette that contrasts with black and white to create a visual language of what has power and what does not. He mixes in everyday images of traffic directional signals to “direct” the viewer in which pathway to take (just like his Walmart parking arrows suggest movement in a one way direction).  In another image, Jackson’s Removal Act, Barsamian points Indigenous Americans on the Long Trail alongside a yo-yo highlighting the contemporary and historic government’s desire for removal of the Indigenous Indian Nations: their lands, cultural and mineral assets desired by the powerful few.

 

Barsamian’s rich and complex imagery and assemblages initially look playful like new toys do, upon closer inspection the imagery encourages interpretation and growth in understanding the complexities of current and historical events and the reexamination of it creates a gravity of emotions.