THE PIONEERS OF THE DIASPORA ART

Photo: At the Fountain by Hagop Soukiasyan.

VLADIMIR MARKARIAN

Markarian is an outstanding representative of the young Armenian figurative artists of the 70's, a craftsman aspiring for new artistic forms. He has had solo exhibitions in Erevan, Tardu (Estonia), Moscow, Yurmala (Latvia). He has been exhibited in several countries abroad.  Valmar, a graduate of the Erevan Arts and Theatre Institute, is a painter who travels along complex paths of explorations.  Professionally gifted and strongly aware of the depth and essence of classical art, Markarian aspires for perfect, complete forms in his paintings as well as graphic works.  The rational principle of mor-phography provides as architectonic character to his oeuvre.  With a starting point free of randomness and rash sentiments embedded in the creative process, he aims at the harmony in the mutual ties of man with nature, a palpable materiality, discovering delicate psychological bonds between them.  In soft velvety augmentations of color, line and grisaille, he produces interconnected series of portraits, landscapes, still-lifes and abstract arrangements, eye-catching in the sincerity of their execution, the authentic depiction of reality, the simple and structural composition. The complicated emotional world of contemporary man, in its multifaceted expressions, becomes the thematic raw material for Markarian's output.  In the self-portrait and still-life series, created in 1976-86, the contemplative and sensual insights of man and material environment parallel the complex undulations of motion and reflections.  The painter places the whole and the detail of the subject in motion and dynamics, which achieve new-found expressions. 

The classic conceptions of color, size, rhythm are put in the service of exposing modern, fundamental issues. The landscape series captures by its structural simplicity, by the figurative integrity of delicate and transparent painting surfaces.  The plastic and structural variety imply the paradoxicality of the painter's sentiments, the "tunes" born of the contact between the I and the world outside. The harmony of forms of expressions and emotional content, surprisingly creates a pictorial comprehensiveness, at times monosemiotic and easily legible, at others characterized by complicated knots of diverse symbols.  The spiritual tension and dramatic accents are transferred to each segment of the surface of the picture, enveloping it in feelings of sorrow, longing and loneliness.  The emotional charge born of the active collisions of man with the material world is intimately familiar to the painter; at times they are expressed as a "state," with deep dramatis His "Love-songs" are like breeze caressing the face, laden with the scent of the fields, pure and immaculate. Valmar's art is multi-striped and manifold.  In his works beats the heart of a painter living with the issues of man and life. -Poghos Haitayan.                                                           Photo: Painting by Markarian.

PARTOUGH VARTANYAN: Born in 1897 in Salmast, Iran.  He studied at Bucharest, Romania, in the Academy of Arts from 1917 to 1924.  Soon after, he left for the United States.  Later, he moved to Paris for two years and then returned to Bucharest, where he had six individual exhibitions.  In 1946, he immigrated to Armenia, where he had a series of individual exhibitions during the years of 1956, 1962, and 1968.  In 1965, he earned the title of Distinguished Artist of the Armenian Republic.  

Photo: Painting by Vartanyan.

SEROON YERETZIAN: Born in Lebanon, Yeretzian received her formal training at the Beirut University, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the Otis/Parsons Art Institute. She has held exhibitions at the UCLA Kerchoff Gallery, the Wilshire Ebell, and the Otis/Parsons Gallery, and last year her work was featured at the J. Paul Getty Museum's Armenian and Iranian art festivals.

FELIX EGHIAZARIAN

Photo: Painting by Felix Eghiazarian.

Felix Eghiazarian was born on August 16, 1947, in Yerevan, Armenia. At 14, he entered the Yerevan Art College.   In 1965, he graduated from  the Yerevan Fine Arts Institute.  In 1986, he was awarded a medal for the best painting of the year. He worked as chief scene-painter in the Yerevan Chamber Theater. During his long artistic career, he went through frequent changes of style in search of his own ways of expression, which he considers to be natural. His first personal exhibition was organized in Aleppo, Syria, in 1989. He has held ten personal exhibits in different cities of Europe and the United States. Felix Eghiazarian's works are found in numerous private collections all over the world as well as in museums such as The Museum of the Peoples of the East (Moscow), in the Vatican, in the Museum of St. Lazzaro Island (Venice) and the exhibition funds in Moscow.

 

 

 

 

 

THE PIONEERS OF THE DIASPORA ART

WAKHTANG SIRUNYAN

Photos from L to R: #1. Love Melody. #2. To the Memory of September 11 Tragedy .

The artist was born in 1968 to Armen Sirunyan and Rolanna Orbelian-Sirunyan. His father is an accomplished violinist who played in the Armenian Philarmony for many years. His mother is an accomplished musicologist. He is a direct descendant of the Orbelian Dynasty of the Syunik region of Armenia. He is married and has one daughter and now lives in Yerevan, Armenia. He received his primary education in Yerevan Armenia. After graduating from High School with honors he started P. Terlemezian Art College where he showed exceptional talent towards painting and set design He graduated from Terlemezian Art College with honors in 1986. He then attended the Yerevan Fine Art and Theatrical Academy where he expanded his horizons in art and set design. He graduated from the Academy in 1993. Since his graduation in 1986 he has participated in multiple international exhibitions throughout the world. He has exhibited and sold his art in the US, Great Britain, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, Lebanon and Russia. Many of his works of art are in private collections throughout the world and at the museum of Modern Art In Armenia. Mr. Sirunyan is a member of the Artist's Union of the Republic of Armenia. He is also a member of the International Association of Art-IAA UNESCO.

ARTHUR SHARAFIAN

Photos from L to R: #1. The Preacher of Love, by Arthur Sharafian.  #2. Painting by Megerdichyan.

Arthur Sharafian was born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1972. In 1987 he entered the Yerevan State College of Fine Arts named after P. Terlemezian. In 1989, Arthur. Sharafian had his first individual exhibition. In 1991, he entered the Yerevan State Institute of Fine Arts, department of painting, and studied at the studio of thewell-known Armenian painter E. Isabekian. During his studies at the Institute, he participated in numerous Ssudent exhibitions organized by the Union of Painters. In 1996, Sharafian had an individual exhibition in Mursia (Spain) at the "Chis" gallery. In 1999, he participated in "Theatre and Cinema" exhibition. In 2000 Sharafian had an Individual exhibition in Mursia (Spain) at the "Chis" gallery. His canvases are exhibited not only in Armenia, but also in Spain, USA,France, England Canada, Japan and China.

GARO MEGERDICHYAN: Megerdichyan was born in 1951 in Banantz, Nagorno Karapbagh.  In 1973, he graduated from Yerevan Fine Art and Drama College.  In 1978, he won "The Best Painting of the Year" award for his painting "Actress," awarded by the Armenian Artists' Union.  His art is displayed in the Yerevan Modern Art Museum and the Armenian National Art Gallery.

 

THE PIONEERS OF THE DIASPORA ART

RAPHAEL ATOYAN

Photos from L to R: #1. Entry into Jerusalem by Carlos Sayadyan. #2. White Horse Carriage by Raphael Atoyan.

Raphael Atoyan is by no means a newcomer to the Armenian art world.  The success his exhibitions had in Yugoslavia, France, and Austria did not come as a surprise to us, since those who keep up with the republic's cultural life are well aware, that Atoyan's paintings have invariably been the focus of attention for both the public and his fellow artists. Two prime features distinguish Atoyan's art -- love for his native land and his immense patience.  His paintings, touching beautifully-colored landscapes and generic scenes, excite and fascinate by their profound national coloring and original skill.   The works of Atoyan, who has mastered the secrets of and the latest currents in art, lack any striving to be modern or popular.  His perception is unique in its freshness and modernity.  The artist is confident that only the natural and plain emotions and experiences of man give birth to genuine art.  Atoyan, a lavishly gifted artist, has a well of inspiration of his own:  that is his native Leninakan, the life of an ordinary worker, his father's house, as well as everything that surrounds him -- animals, trees, and stones.  In Atoyan's world of magic colors all this is personified and given warmth by cheerful and poetic emotions and heartfelt love. Atoyan is an incomparable singer of his "small motherland" and his ancient city, which have found an original reflection in his art.   So, if within the next few years, a Leninakan school of art is to be established (for today its precursors are already tangible), Atoyan's role in it will be immense. Taken from Hakop Hakopian's introduction, "Rafayel Atoyan:  The Well of Inspiration"

 Photos from L to R: #1. Lena Kelekian'  Mother of God. #2. Hilda Helekian's Soura El Rouh’.   #3. Women on Stage by Robert Elibekyan.

Elibekyan was born in 1941, Tbilisi.  He moved to Yerevan in 1956 and graduated from Yerevan's Institute of Drama & Fine Arts in 1969.  Elibekian has created numerous set designs and costumes for ballets, operas. films, and plays, such as "Traviata,"  "Paiazio,"  "Gayane,"  "Andouni,"  and "Don Quixote."  Robert Elibekian has had many solo exhibitions in Yerevan, Lithuania, Moscow, Beirut, and Paris.  His works are part of Collections at many museums;  including The National Gallery of Armenia, Modern Art Museum of Georgia, Museums of Oriental Arts in Moscow, Tretyakov Gallery of Moscow, National Gallery of Petersburg, and the Alex Manougian Museum in Detroit, U.S.A.

 

THE PIONEERS OF THE DIASPORA ART

HENRIK GARUKIAN

Photos from L to R: #1.Untitled. #2. Self portrait by Garukian.

Garukian was born in 1950 in Yerevan. A graduate of the Yerevan Art and Theatre School. Emotions and sensuality dominate in Garukyan's works. The Mirror, 1989, Night Vision-1, 1988). Poetic rhythm imperceptibly, by quiet strokes, creates a special spirit. His wonderful The Church of Gayaneh in Echmiadzin is permeated with this mood. Garukyan follows the traditions of Armenian national art creating the atmosphere of its sensations, thoughts and an individual attitude toward his world. "Everything is involved in the performance. The sky has changed colours and they have never repeated. Orange grains of sand have been shimmering in the air and upon touching other objects have sparkled and fallen down... Music has been perfect. Sounds have spread and hung in the air. It's not clear when this miracle started and when it is going to end" - that is Garukyan's artistic perception. And if there had been no such wonderful colors he would have created the magic light and beauty of Night Lamp because he is haunted by the desire to create wonder, because he can't live without this fairy tale.