Tigran Sahakyan

Biography:
Born in 1975, Yerevan, Armenia
1988-1992 State Art School of the Southwest district of Yerevan
1992-1994 Yerevan State College of Fine Arts after P. Terlemezyan,
Department of Ceramics
1994-2000 Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts, Department of Graphics

Work Experience:
1995-1997 Lecturer of Fine Arts at the Mkhitar Sebastaci Educational Complex
2003-2004 Lecturer of drawing and painting at Artur Khalatyan College
2004-2008 Lecturer of drawing, painting and graphic art, Department of Design at Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts
Since 2008 Lecturer of E-stamp, Department of Graphics and Imaging at Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts

Membership:
1997-2004 Member of the Union of Realist Artists
Since 2002 Member of the Artists’ Union of Armenia

Awards:
1998 Diploma (Exhibition dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the victims of the earthquake in Spitak), Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan

Personal Exhibitions:
2012 Creative-Action, Modern Art Museum of Yerevan, Armenia

Group Exhibitions:
2015 Peace, Workshop Exhibition at the International Art Festival “Crossing Borders”, Bayreuth, Germany
2015 Stolen Childhood, exhibition of contemporary artists of Armenian origin on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Granada, Spain
2015 Invited as artist-in-residence to Bordeaux, France, by the Association Culturelle Arménienne de Bordeaux Aquitaine (ACABA), and the Association du Lien Intercultural Familial et Social (ALIFS), and by the Réseau Aquitain sur l'Histoire et la Mémoire de l'Immigration.
Painting Performance at the International Art Festival “Bons Baisers d’Arménie”, Musée d’Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France
2014 Striding Imprints: Tigran Sahakyan, Arman Vahanyan, and Tigran Kirakosyan in Tallinn, United Nations’ Office, Yerevan, Armenia
2014 Time and Space, Workshop Exhibition at the International Art Festival “Crossing Borders”, Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (ACCEA), Yerevan, Armenia
2014 Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Improvisation on a Text by Armin T. Wegner and Sören Kierkegaard, Intercultural Project in Herford, Lübeck, and Hamburg / Germany
2014 Striding Imprints: Tigran Sahakyan, Arman Vahanyan, Tigran Kirakosyan in Tallinn, National Library, Tallinn, Estonia
2013 Climate Change, Workshop Exhibition at the International Art Festival “Without Borders”, Künstlerforum Bonn, Germany
2013 In Search of the Lost Paradise, 1st International Exhibition of Printmaking, Granada, Spain
2013 Armenian-Estonian Cultural Mission, Artists’ Union of Estonia, Tallinn, Estonia
2013 Abstract Art Group Exhibition, Dar al Funoon Gallery, Kuwait City, Kuwait
2012 Virtual Museum’s Night- Project, Visual Gap Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2012 When Sandy was gone- Project, Visual Gap Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2012 5th International Art Biennale China 2012, Beijing, China
2012 Armenian and Japanese Contemporary Art, Yokohama Creative City Center, Yokohama, Japan
2011 Old Yerevan, Graphic Art Exhibition, Bureaucrat Bookstore, Yerevan, Armenia
2009 Alanika 2009, 3rd International Fine Art Symposium Exhibition, Vladikavkaz, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia
2009 Transitional Hypothesis, Armenian-Japanese Art Exhibition, NPAK - Center for Contemporary Experimental Art, Yerevan, Armenia
2009 Art and the Printing Press 2009, 6th International Exhibition of Small Format Engravings, Cremona, Italy
2008 Retrospective Excavations, Modern Art Museum of Yerevan, Armenia
2007 Estamp 2007, Armenian and Belorussian Graphic Art Exhibition, National Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2006 Infinity, Belorussian and Armenian Graphic Art Exhibition, Contemporary Art Museum, Minsk, Belorussia
2006 7th Triennale Mondiale D’Estampes Petit Format, Chamalières, France
2005 Exhibition dedicated to the memory of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Chamber Music Hall after Komitas, Yerevan, Armenia
2005 Exhibition dedicated to the memory of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
2004 Dialogue in Deram, 6th International Festival of Contemporary Art, NPAK - Center for Contemporary Experimental Art, Yerevan, Armenia
2004 Graphics & Sculpture 2004, Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
2003 Armenian Graphics 2003: Dante in Armenia, Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
2003 Contemporary Art of Young Armenian Artists, Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
2003 Hidden Gallery, Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
2002 Exhibition of Four, art café “ArtBridge”, Yerevan, Armenia
2000 Movable Exhibition of Armenian Art, Brussels / Antwerp / Luxembourg
2000 Painting, Graphic & Sculpture, Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
1998 Exhibition dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the earthquake in Spitak, Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
1998 Second Exhibition of the Union of Realist Artists, National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
1997 First Exhibition of the Union of Realist Artists, National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
1997 Autumn Exhibition of Young Artists, Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
1996 Spring Exhibition of Young Artists, Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
1995 Spring Exhibition of Young Artists, Hovhannes Tumanyan House-Museum, Yerevan, Armenia

Bibliography and Press:
01.2008 - “Young Armenian artists of Estampe 2007”, “Nartsis” literary-artistic cultural journal, by Anatoli Hovhannisyan
24.10.2008 - “Estampe - Old and New Word”, “Yeter” weekly newspaper- cultural life, by Anush Nersisyan
18.05.2008 - “Estampe 2007”, “Afisha” Expositions in “Afisha”, by Kara Amirkhanyan
12.12.2007 - “Estampe 07, Armenia, Exposition”, “Yerevan” magazine
22.11.2007 - “Promising Aquaintance”, “Efir” weekly newspaper, by Henrikh Ayvazyan
27.10.2007 - “Beneath the Stars: Temptation Towards the Gravure”, “GOLOS ARMENII” socio-political newspaper, by Zara Ter-Hakobyan

Tigran Sahakyan's artworks can be found in private and public museums throughout the world; Armenia, Russia, China, Japan, France, Germany, Spain, Slovenia, Canada, Kuwait, USA and others.




Review:
      TIGRAN SAHAKYAN: CRE – ACTION
      The transformations of the final years of Tigran Sahakyan's art serve as the subject matter for study of the Cre–Action project. The artist represents that generations of artists whose path towards maturation took place in an atmosphere of war, transformations of political systems, and economic and psycho-moral tremors.
      In these conditions, the subjective "Self" of the artists is forced to smooth the road, by being an eyewitness of the "old" artist-type – on the odyssey of abandoning the art scene step by step. The prospects awaiting the artists and art creator are unclear. The open-ended and firm self-isolation adopted by the independent state created an equivalent to this process – a type of artist isolated from the viewer.
      Tigran Sahakyan is one of those artists who is in no hurry at all to win over an audience. On the contrary, it seems that his art has turned its back on the viewer of today. This phenomenon, as the artist's attitude, is not new. It has numerous precedents. Nevertheless, with all its hues and causes, it is increasingly becoming rooted as a lifestyle in the context of Armenia. The domestic political initiative to expel contemporary art from having any application to life has resulted in the factual nominal existence of the artist. The Artist is living in a hyper-politicized society where the bourgeoisie, in its embryonic stage views art as an attribute that affirms personal happiness, whilst the non-established citizen sees art as a cry personal downfall or an expression of political revolt.
      Absent from Tigran Sahakyan's art are the abovementioned references directed to the viewer. The ABCs of this art aren't made up of easily intelligible symbols and don't lead to a direct meaning. The art has multi-meanings and is indirect.
      If we dare call the fundamental iconographic principle of the vast majority of the works in the exhibition as "abstract", then it will be interesting to follow the painter's first precedent of withdrawing from objective vocabulary. The "Red Rooster" marks the threshold of that new stage where the brushstroke depicting visible specificity gradually attempts to attain autonomy. Events taking place on the surface of the canvas acquire another process. A profoundly deep explosion occurs, paving the way towards a different Cre-Action.
      The painting surface turns from the conversation around the object or space into a unique field, where the final image condenses in the final result of this process.
      The traditional/classic "paint" and "brush" are removed from usage. The material is changed; metal, fabric and mortar are introduced. The intervention of the hand changes the entire content of creation. The materials being used emphasize their former raw material characteristics. This process gradually permeates both the surface and the painting's exterior and content structure.
      The works are viewed as image-targets, where the dominant element fills the center of the painting. The color scale swings from rich and sharp hues to the monochrome. The texts in Latin, which appear to a lesser extent, are perceived more as images than ideas.
      With its development of form and pictorial transformations, the art of Tigran Sahakyan has achieved a recognizable hallmark. These structures of color and form bring forth a definite aesthetic viewpoint that does not rest within the confines of simple formulas.
      Nowadays, each modern artist serves as the hero and bearer of the myth he/she has created. It is possible to endow that modern epic with the assurance of the "real" – becoming the central character of the Cre-Action of the life that he/she lives.
      The outline of Tigran Sahakyan's art is gradually taking shape; something which is borne out by the vitality it exudes.

Ara Haytayan, 27.02.2012