Gallery Z on Federal Hill is set to host an exhibit featuring some of the best Armenian artists in the world, GoLocalProv reported.
The exhibit will run from Wednesday, April 4 through Sunday, May 6 with a reception on Thursday, April 19 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“Armenia has long fostered a tradition of fine art painting and world-renowned artists. Amongst the more than four hundred artists of all backgrounds represented by Gallery Z are a notable number of the world’s talented Armenian artists, both present, and past,” said Gallery Z in their press release.
The featured artists are as follows:
Simon Samsonian (1915-2003) is April’s featured artist. A giant among Armenian artists, orphaned by the 1915 deportation and massacre of the Armenians in Turkey, he spent his childhood in orphanages in Greece and Egypt. Having also lost his family name, he was given the name Samsonian by the orphanage, having been brought there from Samsoun. After an established career in the receptive art environment of Cairo, Egypt, and having traveled to museums in Europe, Samsonian settled in New York in 1968. The France Amerique labeled his work “symbolic cubism” (1972). Bold lines, rich colors, flat expanses, and planes depict landscapes, cityscapes, still lifes and portraits in a distinctive contemporary style. Samsonian’s works are in museums in the U.S., Armenia, Egypt, France, and Austria.
Kevork Mourad (b. 1970), a world-renowned artist of Armenian origin from Aleppo, Syria, has an MFA from the Yerevan Institute of Fine Arts in Armenia. Many of his multi-layered and emotionally derived paintings draw the viewer into figurative and abstract paintings alluding to the history and devastation suffered by the Armenian people. Also renowned for his drawing to live acoustic music performances during which his drawings are projected onto a wall screen as they metamorphose, Kevork is a visual artist member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. He has works in museums in Paris and Dubai. Kevork lives and works in New York when he isn’t traveling to his international exhibits and performances.
Aghassi, (Boghos Taslakian) born in Lebanon in 1964, began painting and sculpting at eleven, and formal studies in painting at the “Art Academy of Armenia” and later at “Academia di Belle Art di Venezia” in Italy in 1986. Until 1996, he exhibited mainly in Armenia and Italy, returned to Lebanon in 1996, continuing to exhibit. Darkly colored solo portraits and figures interacting, often playfully, intrigue the viewer.
Rafael Atoyan (1931-2014) Born in Leninakan (Gyumri), Armenia, Rafael graduated from the Terlemezian College of Fine Arts in 1948 and from the Yerevan Institute of Fine Arts in 1953. He received the Meritorious Artist of Armenia award in 1982 and the First Prize in State Exhibitions in 1982 and 1983. Between 1960 and 1996, Atoyan participated in group exhibitions in Armenia, the Soviet Union, and Europe. He moved to Fresno, California, after the 1988 Armenian earthquake. His paintings depict peaceful scenes of people set in their landscapes, along with portraits, still lifes, street and country scenes capturing old Soviet Armenia and later, Fresno, a thriving community where many Armenian-Americans settled in the bountiful valley of central California.
Lara B, born in 1977 and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, attended the Toros Roslin Art Academy of Beirut and graduated from the Lebanese University of Fine Arts with honors in 2001. Her paintings won first prize at Beirut’s National University of Fine Arts. After moving to the U.S. in 2002, within two years her artwork was in group exhibits in New York, San Francisco and Providence, and solo shows in Providence and Oakland. Deeply colored and richly layered and textured paintings, often with shimmery gold accents, depict the introspective female portrait and form. She resides and paints in California.
Emma Gregorian (b.1943) Born and raised in Gyumri, Armenia, Emma attended the notable Panos Tenemesian Scool of Art in Yerevan and is a graduate of the Yerevan Fine Arts and Theatrical institute (1969). She became a member of the Union of fine Artists in Armenia in 1971. Her color-drenched paintings have been exhibited worldwide in both group and solo in a series of shows. Emma Gregorian currently lives in Sunnyside, Queens, NY.
Alexander Grigoryan (1927-2008), was a highly celebrated artist in his culture. Born in Armenia, he received the foremost honor in Armenian Art. He painted portraits of William Saroyan, Alex Manookian and film producer Ruben Manuelian, while also being recognized for his sculptures, pencil portraits, and poetry.
Additional artists whose works have been chosen for display include Kevork Mourad b. 1970, Aghassi (b. 1964), Rafael Atoyan (1931-2014), Lara B. (b. 1977), Emma Gregorian b.1943, Alexander Grigoryan and three generations of Elibekians (Areg Elibekian b.1970, Robert Elibekian b.1941, Vagharshag Elibekian (1910-1994).
