«Ինձ դուր է գալիս տխուր լինել» - հարցազրույց Ժան ԺԱՆՍԵՄԻ հետ

Diana Stepanyan's article is devoted to an interview with the French painter of Armenian origin Jean Jansem (Hovhannes Semerdjian), published in issue No. 6 (21) of the publication. The material is an extended conversation with one of the most renowned living Armenian painters, supplemented by the author's observations of his daily life, creative studio, and family surroundings.

Introduction and Context
The author describes the setting of the meeting — the artist's studio in his home in France — and provides biographical background: Jansem was born in 1920 in Seleucia (territory of present-day Turkey), spent his childhood in Greece, and has lived in France since the age of ten. Particular attention is given to the physical condition of the elderly artist, who continues working on his canvases despite the trembling of his hands.

Theme of Identity and Diaspora
A significant portion of the interview is devoted to questions of language, national identity, and the fate of the Armenian diaspora:

Jansem reflects on the loss of the Armenian language in his family and predicts the gradual dissolution of the diaspora over the course of 100–150 years due to assimilation and mixed marriages;
A comparison is drawn between the nature of Armenia and France as a metaphor for the complexity and resilience of the Armenian land and people;
The artist shares his impressions from two visits to Armenia — one during the Soviet period 35–40 years ago, and a more recent one — noting the striking contrast in living standards, freedom of movement, and general atmosphere.

Creative Method and Philosophy of Art
The conversation reveals Jansem's view of artistic talent as a combination of the innate and the acquired, as well as his understanding of painting as a form of self-portrait — an "X-ray" of the artist's inner world. Separately addressed are:

the sources of his subjects — street observations, and, in the later period of his work, a turn toward Greek mythology and themes of life and death;
the influence of the political context of postwar France and American cultural dominance on the fate of his paintings in national museums;
his passion for music as a parallel creative practice.

Key Statement
The central thesis of the interview is the artist's admission of his adherence to a melancholic worldview as an expression of Armenian identity: "I like to be sad." Jansem connects this sadness with the historical trauma of the people while simultaneously with the love of life characteristic of Armenians — a combination that, in his view, distinguishes his painting from the works of his French contemporaries.

Conclusion
The interview demonstrates the complex interweaving of personal biography, collective historical memory, and artistic practice in Jansem's work, for whom art serves as a means of involuntary self-revelation and, at the same time, a form of preserving a connection to a lost homeland.