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Gayané Khachaturian: Dreams in the city of dreams
by Edward Balassanian
www.reporter.am/go/article/2009-04-10-gayan-khach aturian-dreams-in-the-city-of-dreams
Published: Friday April 10, 2009
Yerevan - Of 8 million Armenians around the world, 5 million live
outside the present-day Armenia. The Armenian diaspora is culturally
very rich and diverse. Artists such as painter Arshile Gorky (USA),
seascape painter Hovhannes Aivazovsky (Russia), cinematographer Sergei
Parajanov (Georgia and Ukraine) are among many prominent names of the
international art scene that are from Armenian diaspora. Gayané
Khachaturian, albeit less known, rightfully belongs to this group. She
was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and lives and works there to date.
Gayané Khachaturian's works are distinctly allegoric. They are
inundated with colorful and rich collection of symbols referring to
unending parables and metaphors from her personal past and her
collective memories of the Armenian community of her native town. Her
colorful canvases are reminiscent of such world masters as Marc
Chagall, Arshile Gorky, and even Hieronymus Bosch of a much earlier
era. Chagall spoke of the lives, trepidations, joys, and grief of his
people in the "Old Country" in a representational manner. Arshile
Gorky expressed the same in an abstract style - witness his "How My
Mother's Embroidered Apron Spread in My Life" painting. Gayané is as
much as story-teller as Chagall, as abstract in the use of colors and
forms as Gorky, and as intriguing in concept and composition as
Bosch. On an occasion she has said that many of "the stories" on her
canvases are influenced by the tales of her grandmother. Her works are
"theatrical." The distinct influence of her contemporary,
cinematographer and accomplished painter Parajanov is clearly evident.
Gayané Khachaturian has been selected to represent Armenia because she
is one of the important links on the chain stretching from the depths
of history - Armenian illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages - to
the present day. Colors, composition concepts, and the "story-telling"
are all in concert with the roots, and branches of the same tree. It
is noteworthy that the selection of Gayané Khachaturian independently
has coincided with the 53rd Venice Biennale Director and Curator
Daniel Birnbaum's intent to "explore strings of inspiration that
involve several generations and to display the roots as well as the
branches that grow into a future not yet defined".
There is a wealth of Armenian artists - Gorky, Yervand Kochar,
Martiros Sarian, Minas Avetissian, and others - who tie Armenia to its
past and form the source and the basis whence contemporary Armenian
art feeds and on which it lays its foundation. Gayané Khachaturian is
one of the few artists still living who belong to and represent this
invaluable "procession" of treasures.
by Edward Balassanian
www.reporter.am/go/article/2009-04-10-gayan-khach aturian-dreams-in-the-city-of-dreams
Published: Friday April 10, 2009
Yerevan - Of 8 million Armenians around the world, 5 million live
outside the present-day Armenia. The Armenian diaspora is culturally
very rich and diverse. Artists such as painter Arshile Gorky (USA),
seascape painter Hovhannes Aivazovsky (Russia), cinematographer Sergei
Parajanov (Georgia and Ukraine) are among many prominent names of the
international art scene that are from Armenian diaspora. Gayané
Khachaturian, albeit less known, rightfully belongs to this group. She
was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and lives and works there to date.
Gayané Khachaturian's works are distinctly allegoric. They are
inundated with colorful and rich collection of symbols referring to
unending parables and metaphors from her personal past and her
collective memories of the Armenian community of her native town. Her
colorful canvases are reminiscent of such world masters as Marc
Chagall, Arshile Gorky, and even Hieronymus Bosch of a much earlier
era. Chagall spoke of the lives, trepidations, joys, and grief of his
people in the "Old Country" in a representational manner. Arshile
Gorky expressed the same in an abstract style - witness his "How My
Mother's Embroidered Apron Spread in My Life" painting. Gayané is as
much as story-teller as Chagall, as abstract in the use of colors and
forms as Gorky, and as intriguing in concept and composition as
Bosch. On an occasion she has said that many of "the stories" on her
canvases are influenced by the tales of her grandmother. Her works are
"theatrical." The distinct influence of her contemporary,
cinematographer and accomplished painter Parajanov is clearly evident.
Gayané Khachaturian has been selected to represent Armenia because she
is one of the important links on the chain stretching from the depths
of history - Armenian illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages - to
the present day. Colors, composition concepts, and the "story-telling"
are all in concert with the roots, and branches of the same tree. It
is noteworthy that the selection of Gayané Khachaturian independently
has coincided with the 53rd Venice Biennale Director and Curator
Daniel Birnbaum's intent to "explore strings of inspiration that
involve several generations and to display the roots as well as the
branches that grow into a future not yet defined".
There is a wealth of Armenian artists - Gorky, Yervand Kochar,
Martiros Sarian, Minas Avetissian, and others - who tie Armenia to its
past and form the source and the basis whence contemporary Armenian
art feeds and on which it lays its foundation. Gayané Khachaturian is
one of the few artists still living who belong to and represent this
invaluable "procession" of treasures.