As far as cultural events are concerned, August is generally considered to be the “dead” month of the year. With the overbearing Yerevan heat and summer ennui setting in, all one really wants to do (including this writer) is to lie back on some secluded Caribbean beach, sip Pina Coladas and gaze at the infinite blue horizon, instead of threading through half-empty, mostly air-condition-less halls of Yerevan’s museums and looking at intellectually challenging art. But if you’re stuck in Yerevan and the soul does want to escape somewhere else, even for just an hour or so, then some of those events might just prove to be the ticket.

EXHIBITIONS

To escape Yerevan, one doesn’t necessarily need to go to the Caribbean. On August 7, there’s a good reason to travel down south, to Sisian, where the National Gallery of Armenia is reopening its branch with a large centenary exhibition of the Sisian-born painter Zakar Khachatryan. Trained at the art academies of Leningrad and Moscow in the 1950s-60s, Khachatryan excelled at the kind of large-scale, thematic paintings of everyday life that were the staple of Soviet art. What set him apart was the exceptional virtuosity of his painting technique, which deftly interpolated various post-impressionist styles to create monumental, vibrating tapestries of intense primary colors. In the last years of his life, Khachatryan donated most of his works and his beautiful house to the nation, which now allows us to follow the full creative trajectory of this supremely gifted master. 

Exhibition: “100th anniversary”, Zakar Khachatryan
Where: National Gallery of Armenia, Sisian branch
39 Sisakan St., Sisian
Dates: Open from August 7

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Gyumri is also offering another getaway with its third annual Gyumri Art Week. An unofficial heir to the short-lived Gyumri Art Biennale, this festival focuses on the intersection of contemporary art, urbanism and technology. Featuring the work of more than 20 local and international artists, the festival will explore “characteristic relationships of cities, inviting artists to address topics such as urban planning, sustainability, architectural layouts and styles, natural landscapes, social structures, and the general idea of interconnections.” It all sounds a little too broad and overarching frankly, but a chance to interconnect with Gyumri through art is always a welcome diversion. 

Exhibition: Gyumri Art Week
Where: Gyumri Technology Center
1 Gayi St., Gyumri
Dates: August 2-12

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Back in the capital, the major cultural institutions are holding up their big events for the fall season as per usual. However, some of the smaller, independent outfits keep the fire burning with diverse shows for all tastes. Strident admirers of contemporary figurative art, for example, have a chance to discover the work of Tbilisi-born, Moscow-based Armenian artist Peter Sarukhanov at Dalan Gallery. Better known for his minimalist caricatures, Sarukhanov is also a seasoned painter who continues to work in the well-worn tradition of the “Tiflis school” of painting – a kind of Caucasian École de Paris style. Blending fantasy and memory, Sarukhanov’s quaint landscapes, still-lifes and genre scenes have a decorative charm that seems imported from another century altogether, so if you’re up for a nostalgic trip to a wholesome “Neverland”, then this might just be your cup of paint. 

Exhibition: “Above the City. Peter Sarukhanov”
Where: Dalan Art Gallery
12 Abovyan St., Yerevan
Dates: August 2-12

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There is more of that decorativeness to be had in the work of young painter Ani Muradyan, who is holding her solo show at the Pyunik Development Centre. Her slickly painted realistic figures and landscapes with stylishly splashed bits of “abstract” color look very modish, like the kind of tasteful, but non-descript art you might find at Ikea – elegant pictorial surfaces that now seem to have essentially replaced the function of wallpaper. Well, every sofa needs its headpiece and there are plenty to choose from here. 

Exhibition: “Solo Exhibition”, Ani Muradyan
Where: Pyunik Development Centre
3 Buzand St., Yerevan
Dates: August 13-19

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Wall decoration is serious business really. Even a single artifact can quickly communicate – or expose – who you are as an individual, your tastes and your worldview. And if you wanted to relay your “Armenianness”, for example, until a few years ago there wasn’t a lot one could choose aside from gauche souvenir paintings of Ararat, horrendous ceramic pomegranates and kitsch chekankas of semi-erotic Aghtamars. These days, however, there are artists like Armen Hakobyan who makes clever cut-out reliefs out of cardboard and wood based on traditional Armenian motifs, which can be seen in his solo show at Common Ground cafe-bookstore. Formally and thematically, there is nothing new here – smooth, linear shapes of jugs, birds and ornaments that very much recall aesthetics of 1960s Soviet modernism. But the exceptional craftsmanship and refined color sensibility make Hakobyan’s cut-out “paintings” radiate with heartfelt benevolence and simple beauty that wouldn’t look amiss in any modern Armenian interior. 

Exhibition: “Solo Exhibition”, Armen Hakobyan
Where: Common Ground
6 Baghramyan St., Yerevan
Dates: Open from July 29

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Perhaps it’s a summer malaise, but decorativism is all over the place in Yerevan. Hyper-saturated colors, dancing lines, fuzzy figures with smoothed-out Picassoesque features floating in golden mists embodying some rudimentarily “soulful” phenomenon like “Love”, “Motherhood”, “Music”, “Melody”, “Hospitality”, “Longing”, or… yes, of course… “Eternity”. Pretty much all of the things that you’ll find in the solo exhibition of Kapan-based painter Ruben Kostandyan at the Artist’s Union of Armenia. I guess when the world is a living hell, crafting an alternative, timeless dimension of conservative moral values is an expected artistic response, even if it may sometimes look like a bad LSD trip into the land of OZ. 

Exhibition: “Dialogue With Colors”
Where: Artist’s Union of Armenia
16 Abovyan St., Yerevan
Dates: August 1-15

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One can find spirituality of a very different kind in the upcoming retrospective exhibition of the noted 1980s-90s avant-gardist Achot Achot. Beginning as one of the most provocative enfant terribles of the Armenian art world (various bodily fluids were a common feature of his early work), Achot Achot eventually turned to religious transcendentalism in the 1990s and has made a surprisingly firm stance against all things political and social in his work. Instead, the artist focuses on the metaphysical essences that underlie physical and cultural phenomena, which often manifest themselves via inventively remixed ecclesiastical iconography presented through the whole arsenal of contemporary art’s tools – abstract painting, found object sculptures, video and performance. This type of affirmative, even atavistic gesture is almost a subversive “inversion” of contemporary art’s objectives – a very Armenian thing to do, even if the artist has been based in France since the mid 1990s. Regardless of how one views Achot Achot’s Zen philosophy, the conceptual rigor and formal inventiveness of his work mark him as an undeniable force in both Armenian and international contemporary art scene. 

Exhibition: “The Desire to See Destroys Darkness”
Where: NPAK
1/3 Buzand St., Yerevan
Dates: Aug 10 – Sep 4

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If you’re interested in other Armenian avant-gardists of the late-20th, early 21st century, then the exhibition of gallerist Anna Grigoryan’s private collection of modern and contemporary art at the Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics will present some significant and little-seen pieces by masters such as Harutyun Galents, Seyran Khatlamadjyan, Varuzhan Vardanyan, Ruben Adalyan, Kiki, Hamlet Hovsepyan and others. Unlike the exhibition of Sergei Djavadyan’s collection of Armenian abstraction currently on view at the NGA (see here), this is a much more motley and inconsistent affair with a wildly divergent taste palette. But together, both these exhibitions provide a fascinating insight into Armenian art collecting practices, of which there should be considerably more of. The interesting thing about this show is that the exhibits are also offered for sale, so anyone with deep enough pockets has a chance to begin their own collection with rare masterworks by some of the greatest Armenian artists. 

Exhibition: “A. Grigoryan. Private collection”
Where: Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics
13 Abovyan St., Yerevan
Dates: Aug 10-15

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LECTURES

School is out and so are lectures and talks, which will begin in earnest next month. But since quite a few of Yerevan’s cafes and bars also aspire to be a lot more than just watering holes, you can also catch an occasional talk by a visiting scholar with your glass of wine. The Common Ground cafe-bar has become one of the more active platforms in that regard. On August 7 they’ll be hosting the St. Petersburg-based archivist and researcher Sergey Chubraev, who will talk on the underground music scene in Leningrad during the 1980s. This was a watershed period when Soviet music lost its innocence under the influence of Euro-British rock, punk and electronic genres and became an important countercultural tool in the hands of artists like Victor Tsoy. Chubraev is one of the leading specialists in the field and if you are interested to learn more about the music accompanying the collapse of the USSR, then this is certainly one not to be missed. Alas, however, if you are interested, but don’t speak (or read) Russian, then this event isn’t for you, because the organisers haven’t even bothered to translate their Facebook event into Armenian, let alone provide translation for the non-Russian audiences in Yerevan. Can somebody please ring that de-colonising bell finally?!

Lecture: “Underground Leningrad of the 1980s”
Where: Common Ground
6 Baghramyan St., Yerevan
Dates: August 7, 7:30 p.m.

*In Russian

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SCREENINGS

Uruguay is one of Armenia’s friendliest and most distant countries. Yet we know very little about this small, but fascinating Latin-American socialist nation. Nor are many aware that for 12 years in a row, the embassy of Uruguay has been holding a free annual festival of Uruguayan cinema in Yerevan. This year is no exception and from August 5-8, locals have a chance to encounter the latest Uruguayan cinematic tales at Cinema House. It’s a good opportunity to not only learn more about the country and its culture, but also find out what makes it one of the most politically progressive societies in the world today. All screenings are in the original language with Armenian subtitles. 

Screening: “Uruguayan Cinematic Tales”
Where: Cinema House
18 Vardanants St., Yerevan
Dates: August 5-8

*Spanish with English subtitles

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