Arman Vahanyan

Arman Vahanyan was born in 1978, Yerevan, Armenia. After two years of study at the Yerevan Panos Terlemezyan State College of Fine Arts (Department of painting) in 1993-1995, Arman Vahanyan graduated from Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts, (Department of graphics) in 2001. Since 2006 to 2016, he was the Head of the printing studio of the National Centre of Aesthetics’ in Yerevan, Armenia. Besides illustrations for national health campaigns run by the Red Cross, World Vision Armenia and American University of Armenia, Vahanyan is active mostly in the field of printmaking but also in painting. His graphic works and his paintings have been showcased since 1995 in his native country Armenia in numerous exhibitions, among them venues like the National Gallery of Armenia, the Artists’ Union of Armenia, the Museum of Russian Art in Yerevan, in several of Yerevan’s art galleries and also the Armenian branch of the United Nations in Yerevan. Together with other Armenian artists, Vahanyan participated in the “First International Print Biennale Yerevan 2017” and thus set an important example to point out the significance of printmaking for the contemporary Armenian art scene.

 

Arman Vahanyan’s best works in printmaking are perfectly balanced; their composition does not have any fixed centre. Those areas, which at first glance seem to be neglected in terms of printmaking, in fact are arranged seamlessly and harmoniously. They convey the impression, as if those linear masses of printing paint were shaped in harmony with the laws of physics. This kind of inner serenity, so characteristic of Vahanyan, is in fact just modesty. Arman Vahanyan does not indulge in sudden emotional states, but he tries to locate this sensation by passing it through a filter of logical analysis. Consciousness and subconscious are in balance in Vahanyan’s art. This balance requires a harmony of colour and its shades for each part of the surface and thanks to this balance his works are endowed with inner tension and expressiveness.