My childhood and adolescence were spent in Tiflis, at the \u201cHayartan.\u201d I was born in January 1936 into the family of a theatre professional. At first, my father was the director and theatrical designer of the Armenian Theatre for Young Audiences, and after the theatre fire, he became the director of the Armenian Dramatic Theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To all my first childhood words was added the word \u201cfinotdel.\u201d My grandfather Yervand was a \u201cleather tailor,\u201d working at home\u2014something that was harshly persecuted under \u201cSoviet laws.\u201d The punitive body was the \u201cfinotdel.\u201d However, contrary to the \u201cuniversal fear,\u201d people were united, and there was no betrayal. With the arrival of the \u201cfinotdel,\u201d the \u201cleather\u201d would scatter throughout the three-story house of the Korganovs. Perhaps we should return to the \u201chouse of Prince Yuzbashev\u201d\u2014the \u201cHayartan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We lived in a small living room, where the \u201cspirits\u201d of my ancestors also existed, constantly disturbing me. I had been prepared for this \u201cstate\u201d by my mother, who always glorified the greatness of the ancestors who had recently departed this world. In \u201cour room,\u201d during my adolescent years, my mother often listened to the speeches of Charents and Papazyan. Sundukyan and Shirvanzade played chess. Later, my father was visited by Hrachya Nersisyan, Vahram Papazyan, Gagik Janibekyan, and almost \u201call the coryphaei\u201d of the Armenian stage\u2014writers and critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was this environment that shaped the \u201ccharter of my conscience\u201d and had an enormous influence on me, as did the constant \u201cflashes\u201d of my childhood memories: after the morning toilet, my grandfather Yervand\u2019s \u201ccleaning of the seat\u201d with a red ten-ruble note bearing Ilyich\u2019s portrait, and the constant conversations about my other grandfather, Hakob, who was exiled in 1937.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1956, Tiflis. Acting and directing education, attendance of painting courses at the Academy of Arts under the guidance of Professor Vasily Shukhaev, newly \u201creleased\u201d from the \u201cGulag.\u201d These were my years of self-searching in painting and sculpture, as well as in theatre. Influenced by Meyerhold, I was seeking my path, but unfortunately, in the era of a totalitarian regime, when a person was constantly surrounded by a repressive society, the search for an \u201cexit\u201d and for \u201cself-realization\u201d was only an \u201cillusion.\u201d Giotto (Gevorg Grigoryan) visited me, and sometimes, when in Tiflis, Kocharyan as well. Those were years of rebellion and self-affirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first conceptual work is born: \u201ca composition consisting of toothbrushes, a laundry brush, and various perfumery items.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1966, Yerevan. Faculty of Fine Arts\u2014frequent meetings with Minas, Igityan, and Kocharyan, admiration for the art of the genius Arshile Gorky expanded my horizons. During this period, I created a series of works in the aesthetics of \u201cpop art\u201d under the title \u201cMan in Space,\u201d which were exhibited a year later at a two-day exhibition at the Artists\u2019 House and provoked enormous controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No less significant and sharp were Igityan\u2019s speeches during that dreadful period. Together with Kocharyan, Minas, and a group of artists, contemporary Armenian art was formed within the context of global standards. Igityan\u2019s merits in this process are widely known. In 1972, through his efforts, the Museum of Contemporary Art was founded and opened in Yerevan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minas\u2014a great master, philosophical by nature, a master of the symbol of the \u201ccolor-sign.\u201d Yervand Kocharyan\u2014the \u201cfather\u201d-philosopher of Armenian contemporary art, an outstanding sculptor and painter, the founder of the \u201cpainting in space\u201d movement created in Paris in 1933. Kocharyan was the living embodiment of that powerful era which was the dream of us all. The ontology of his personality was a brilliant example of devotion to ideas for all of us. He encouraged us by his very existence during that \u201cterrible period,\u201d having behind him the experience of 1937 and two years of imprisonment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fairness, it must be emphasized that all the \u201chorrors\u201d of the past have continuously penetrated like a \u201ccurse\u201d and continue to do so to this day. Proof of this is the \u201cplundering\u201d of my studio during my absence by my so-called son, with the \u201cshameful\u201d traitorous silence of my friends and relatives. It was with such an \u201caction\u201d that my 60th anniversary was celebrated in Yerevan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All my \u201cperformances,\u201d as well as the system of \u201cpainting plus sculpture in time and space,\u201d exist within the boundaries of the conceptual paradigm of art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The system of \u201cpainting plus sculpture in time and space\u201d I created in Moscow in 1970, without having Kocharyan\u2019s experience. I introduced \u201ctime\u201d into my system as a causal substance and adapted it to the contemporary concept of space. The essence of the system is the movement of one or several models in space, where three categories (=orders) interact: the speed of color, the pulsation of form, and the transformation of form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of my colleagues do not dare to admit the fact of inheriting traditions, which is natural for many peoples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I admire my young colleagues and the constantly growing generation of young artists. In 2003, in Yerevan, at the \u201cHenry Elibekyan Gallery,\u201d I presented the performance \u201cHamlet Is Not Hamlet, or Vengeance for the Father,\u201d dedicating the project to the younger generation, represented by artists Grigor Khachatryan, Arman Grigoryan, Narek Avetisyan, and many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2005, published for the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My childhood and adolescence were spent in Tiflis, at the \u201cHayartan.\u201d I was born in January 1936 into the family of a theatre professional. At first, my father was the director and theatrical designer of the Armenian Theatre for Young Audiences, and after the theatre fire, he became the director of the Armenian Dramatic Theatre. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-en"],"yoast_head":"\n