Meet Haro Istamboulian

We were lucky to catch up with Haro Istamboulian recently and have shared our conversation below.

Haro, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

As a kid, I always had a saying in my head, and I don’t even know where I first heard it. I used to always tell myself that if I was to give up, I’d only be guaranteeing myself that it wouldn’t happen. I’ve gotten resilience from my mother – the strongest person I know. Now, I know that everyone probably says this about their parent, in one way or another. But I speak the full truth. She’s worked a full-time job every week since the 1970s. She became a widow at 39 and still worked full-time, raising two sons and with no one around or offering to help. I have no idea how she did it. So when you grow up with a mother like that, you end up feeling like an idiot with such minuscule problems and complaints. Whenever I approach hardship, I remind myself of these questions: How did she ever pay rent and feed three mouths? How did the electricity never shut off a single time in over 30 years living in lower-middle class? How was there always food on the table? These things remind me to push on. Life will never be easy. If it was, then growth wouldn’t exist and everyone would easily get their way – which can be a bad thing. Now that I’m older, I have another quote which I keep in my pocketbook. It’s from Macbeth and it reads: “Come what come may, time and the hour run through the roughest day.” Take from that what you will.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I grew up wanting to be a professional drummer and left that industry jaded but satisfied. What I ended up not liking about it was how much I had to rely on others’ work ethics and attendance. Being in these bands always left a bad feeling within me. There were always lazy ones, violent ones, or when everything went well, their views on the project weren’t the same as mine.
I finally left and pursued art seriously – mostly because I didn’t want to work for someone else’s company. I wanted to work for myself and make progress.
I have been drawing and painting ever since I was a child, but I started professionally doing art around 2007. By the time 2012 came around, I began doing portraits in oil paint and dabbling in epoxy resin. I honed my skills and got better at hyperrealistic paintings and resin casting.
I launched my business in 2017 because of a darker reason, of sorts. I’m colorblind, so I mostly paint in black and white. As I started painting portraits exclusively, I mostly painted people who had passed on. It was my way of helping them live forever and never be forgotten. When the public began to notice this, I started to receive commissions of client’s family members they had lost. Now I paint anyone and everyone, but once in a while, I still get that client who’d like someone remembered on canvas.
2024 has been a great year for international events. I was honored to be asked to display my work in Budapest, Hungary this past August and just recently was asked by the City Hall of a small town in France called Moussoulens to display another work of mine. That will be in early October.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Let me tell you a crazy story. After I graduated high school, I ended up working at a store that sold cardboard boxes and had shipping services. I hated it. I ended up working at this place for nearly ten years. But I had no idea that those skills would be used in my business today. By the time I had ended my run at that place, I was a professional at resizing cardboard boxes (there are mathematics and skills involved), packing fragile items, and understanding shipping terms. Now, almost 20 years later, I’m the only employee of my art business. And what does it involve other than art? Packing and shipping! I ended up using skills that I had mastered decades ago. So my advice is this: Never avoid something simply because you may think it’s irrelevant to you. Always welcome whatever life brings you. And forgot all that “Jack of all trades, master of none” stuff. You can master a whole lot more than just one field. You can be a pro at so many things and become your own reliable person. Secondly, I noticed that I cared more about where my art was going as its permanent home rather than how much I’m selling it for. I care about what my clients want and I feel what they feel. I want them to feel joy or nostalgia when they wake up in the morning and stare at my work on their wall. Lastly, I understand now, all the things I learned as a kid when I begrudgingly helped family members in their business way back in the day. Now I’m in the position which they were in back then and it’s all come full circle to me. I’m humbled through it all. The learning never stops.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

The biggest issue I’m currently facing is workspace. My work – as for any business in its infancy – is relatively unknown, so marketing is a huge mission for me in the near future. I mention this because it’s the answer to my problem. As the work I do progresses and the business grows, I’ll be able to work out of a larger studio. Currently, everything is created in a tiny Los Angeles apartment. Even wall and ceiling space is utilized. Every square foot is used. It gets brutally difficult at times. I’ve gotten rid of all my furniture in order to make it work – including my bed! It’s functional and I’m content with it. I don’t focus on what I don’t have. I try my best to make it work with what I do. I’m grateful to be able to do what I do and I keep that in the front of my mind at all times. Everyone in Los Angeles is an actor or a musician or an artist but how many will never give up? I’m good at making lemonade with my lemons. But yes, a bigger space would be a dream come true for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.whoisharo.com
• Instagram: @whoisharo
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100071802061162
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haro-istamboulian

Image Credits

Haro Istamboulian