Art News

Hagop Hagopian’s New Works on View at The Cafesjian Center in Yerevan, Armenia

artwork: Hagop Hagopian - "Still Life With Flowers and Gloves". Courtesy Cafesjian Center for the Arts, © the artist. On view at the “Hagop Hagopian: The Song of Earthen Colors” exhibition at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in Yerevan, Armenia.


Yerevan, Armenia.- “Hagop Hagopian: The Song of Earthen Colors” has just opened at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in Yerevan, Armenia. The exhibition consists of 28 paintings and 10 sculptures representing various periods of the artist’s work. Hagopian conveys profound sadness in his early paintings as a reflection of the Armenian Genocide that still haunts the artist’s soul. Already an accomplished artist in his forties, in 1962 Hagopian repatriated to Armenia. The silver-gray and terracotta color scheme of his late fall or early spring paintings emanate a mystic silence.

Hagop Hagopian’s latest works are deeply philosophical and laden with symbolism. Delving deeply into his past to retrieve images of love, struggle, survival and death, he reconfigures them  as mannequins, garments and tools painted against the backdrop of nature. “It has been a surprise and a joy to me that my works were selected to be exhibited at the newly established Cafesjian Center for the Arts”, Hagop Hagopian notes in the opening remarks for the exhibition.

“An artist can be influenced by another artist’s style or working techniques, but he/she can never adopt other artist’s spirit” Hagop Hagopian once said. Hagopian has always stayed true to his own spirit and believes in himself. With every new exhibition, wherever it took place, he has presented himself with his unique pictorial language and personality that makes him a unique and one of the most interesting painters for today. Hagopian was born in Egypt, attended the Institute of Fine Arts in Cairo and then was granted scholarship to attend Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. He also studied at the studio of renowned painter Andre L’hote during his stay in Paris. Later, with his family, he moved and settled in Armenia. Among the Armenian painters in Armenia and the Diaspora, Hagop Hagopian is a living legend. Hagopian’s paintings are explicit in theme and subject matter, closely related to deeply felt personal experiences, executed with an extraordinary control and discipline of the medium. His paintings are based on the harmony between the object’s and artist’s innermost feelings. Even if there is no human existence in his landscapes or still lifes, references to human existence quietly abound and are always tangible. Throughout his career Hagop Hagopian has exhibited all over the world and won many prizes and titles in his artistic portfolio. Today, Hagop Hagopian continues to produce paintings with his unique technical precision and continues to be exhibited internationally. His work can be found in public and private collections across Europe, Russia, Armenia and the United States. Visit the artist’s website at … http://www.hagopianart.com

artwork: Hagop Hagopian - "Untitled (From the Series, Garden of Love)", 2008 Oil on canvas. Courtesy Cafesjian Center for the Arts © the artist.

The Cafesjian Center for the Arts is dedicated to bringing the best of contemporary art to Armenia and presenting the best of Armenian culture to the world. Inspired by the vision of its founder, Mr. Gerard L. Cafesjian, the Center offers a wide variety of exhibitions, the majority of which are derived from Mr. Cafesjian’s own extensive collection of contemporary art. The building that now houses the Cafesjian Center for the Arts is well known to the Armenian people, especially those living in its capital city of Yerevan. Known as “The Cascade,” the complex was originally conceived by the architect Alexander Tamanyan (1878–1936). Tamanyan wanted to connect the northern and central parts of the city with a vast green area of waterfalls and gardens, cascading down one of the city’s highest promontories. Unfortunately, the plan remained largely forgotten until the late 1970s, when it was revived by Yerevan’s Chief Architect, Jim Torosyan. Torosyan’s conception of the Cascade included Tamanyan’s original plan but incorporated new ideas that included a monumental exterior stairway, a long indoor shaft containing a series of escalators, and an intricate network of halls, courtyards, and outdoor gardens embellished with numerous works of sculpture bearing references to Armenia’s rich history and cultural heritage. Construction of Torosyan’s design of the Cascade was launched by the Soviets in the 1980s but abandoned after the Armenian earthquake of 1988 and the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. With independent rule and the transition to democracy, Armenia entered a period of severe economic hardship, and the Cascade remained a neglected relic of the Soviet era for more than a decade. Mr. Cafesjian, working with the City of Yerevan and the government of the Republic of Armenia, initiated its recent revitalization in 2002. Over the next seven years, virtually every aspect of the monument was renovated, and much of it completely reconstituted into a Center for the Arts bearing the name of its principal benefactor. Visit the Cafesjian Center for Arts website at … http://www.cmf.am