About
Armen Ghazaryan
A visual artist who has never kept to one field. He paints on wood in oil and gold leaf, casts the signs of the zodiac in bronze, builds the worlds of films, illustrates books, designs furniture and restores objects three thousand years old. Each craft feeds the others: the restorer’s patience with metal and gilding finds its way into the paintings, the painter’s eye shapes the film sets, and the sculptor’s hand turns a wine cabinet into a pair of angels. Whatever passes through his hands — a wooden panel, a piece of bronze, an empty set, a cabinet door — comes away changed, as if it had been waiting for him to find what it was meant to be.
Born in Yerevan on 9 October 1964, he studied at the H. Kojoyan Art School (1975–1980) and at the Kh. Abovyan Pedagogical Institute, in the faculties of painting (1981–1986) and design (1983–1986). In 1986 he joined the Hayfilm studio as a production designer for animation, and in 1989 he made an animated clip for Charles Aznavour’s charity song “Pour Toi Arménie”, written after the December 1988 earthquake. He has been a member of the “Momik” Association since 1991. Film has stayed at the centre of his work ever since, from early animation to some forty films.
From 2001 to 2006 he worked with the History Museum of Armenia as an exhibition designer and restorer, and from 2012 to 2016 he headed its restoration department.
His work has been honoured with two gold medals: the Yerevan Mayor’s Gold Medal in 2016, on the city’s 2798th anniversary, for his achievements in art; and in 2023 the Medal for Contribution to Armenian Fine Arts and Cinema from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, marking the centenary of Armenian cinema.
His paintings and sculptures are held in private collections in many countries. He lives and works in Yerevan.
