Ruben Baghdasaryan, a Los Angeles-based artist, is renowned for his captivating series of oil on canvas portraits. These intimate pieces offer a glimpse into the rich and sometimes mysterious inner lives of young Angelenos and New Yorkers.

Baghdasaryan's work masterfully balances surface appearance with underlying psychology, a recurring theme throughout his practice.Baghdasaryan's art showcases a mosaic of portraits alternating between face portraiture and semi-nude depictions of body parts, some with overtly homoerotic undertones.

Each piece invites the viewer into a world where some subjects smile mischievously while others remain distant and wary, cloaked in fashionable mystery. His models are a blend of friends, chosen family, and passing acquaintances, reflecting the artist's deep connections and encounters.

Born in Armenia, Baghdasaryan has carved out an enviable reputation as a leading sketch artist in the fashion industry on both coasts of the United States. His blue portraits evoke the spirit of great twentieth-century artists like Picasso, Modigliani, and Matisse, who also embraced the color blue during significant periods of their careers.

Baghdasaryan’s unique hue of blue, infused with green and hints of white, suggests alienation and lends his portraits an otherworldly edge.Beyond the nod to the blue periods of other artists, blue signifies feelings of melancholy and introspection. Additionally, blue serves as a coded reference to queerness in various cultures. Baghdasaryan's work, rich with a "queer aesthetic," captures the intensity and distinctiveness of his subjects.


Many of Baghdasaryan’s subjects exude a movie star quality, fashionable and ready to conquer the world. His portrayal often focuses on parts of the whole, revealing only visages or specific body parts, adding to the enigmatic allure of his work. In several portraits, subjects wear glasses, obscuring the so-called mirrors to the soul and adding a layer of glamour and mystery.

Baghdasaryan’s whimsical titles hint at the deeper stories behind his subjects, aligning with a long American tradition of queer artistic representation. Ruben Baghdasaryan's work is an exploration of identity, connection, and the multifaceted nature of human experience through the eyes of a profoundly talented artist.