The second edition of Armenia Art Fair has just drawn to a close and, while the booths may have been packed away, the artwork that was displayed at Yerevan Expo during the first few days of June has definitely left an impression on us here at Armenia Art Fair HQ. So, without further ado, here is a summary of our most memorable works and moments from this year’s fair.
Standout booths include the Iranian Emerging Artists’ booth, which displayed works by artists like Parham Peyvandi and Masoud Jazani. Unbelievably, Armenia Art Fair marked the initiative’s – which began online – first exhibition in a physical space. A particularly memorable work from the booth was Parham Taghioff’s film work Domestic Bodies, which was dedicated to Eadweard Muybridge – an English-American photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic-studies of motion and early work in motion-picture projection, represented in a particularly scientific and objective manner. Taghioff commented on these in Domestic Bodies, with the inclusion of red squiggle marks.
Equally impressive works were displayed by Sormeh Arab at Vista, another Iranian gallery, the artist’s triangular works included motifs from the Qajar period in Iran, and had been draped over with pieces of delicate crochet. Other notable works include Alexander Yaya’s My Yellow Fish from Crisolat Galleries (Spain) – where a woman with clouds for hair carries a yellow plastic fish – and French artist Anuradha Delacour’s Animal State images from Canpoy Gallery (Israel), beautiful works of ink on paper, that are reminiscent of traditional oriental works. The post-Soviet art scene was represented at the fair by independent curator Oleg Kostyuchenko (Belarus), who presented Belarusian artists with his project, “Talent for Export” (Mikhail Gulin, Antonina Slobodchikova, Julia Nazarova, Vasilii Kostiuchenko)
Another series of works that left a mark were by Arthur Hovhannisyan, consisting of depictions of buses against a black backdrop, with no passengers on board. The Bus Forms images, presented by Marina Hakobyan, embody a ghostly quality. Where have the buses come from? And what will be their final destination?
From local Armenian galleries, memorable works include Armen Gevorgian’s The Woman and Balloon – who looks like she fell onto Earth from another world – from Aramé Art Gallery, as well as Mkrtich Mazmanian fiber-glass, womanly pieces at Esquisse Gallery. Likewise, the Armenian women’s photography collective 4Plus exhibited some breathtaking images, most notably Anahit Hayrapetyan’s Grandmother with Cabbage. Curator Tereza Davtyan also exhibited a stunning display of young Armenian artists, including works from Kamee Abrahamian, Valentina Maz and Gohar Sargsyan.
In terms of events, Dr Iain Robertson’s (from Sotheby’s Institute in London) lecture on New Art and New Markets at Armenia’s National Gallery certainly provided food for thought as the Armenia Art Fair team thinks about how we might help to grow the art market in Armenia. We were also blown away by Olaf Nicolai’s sound performance In the Woods There is a Bird, in which he enlisted the help of Hayk Karoyi Karapetyan to put an Armenian spin on things. Karoyi Karapetyan also performed with Luska during the Art Fair’s Club Night at Second Floor. Luska – who creates graffiti like works and collages inspired by her time living in San Francisco and Paris – was represented by Gallery Girl (UK), along with fellow British-Armenian artist Ripsy May.
Overall, the Art Fair was a huge success, hosting 35 galleries from different countries including Armenia, Belarus, Iran, Ukraine, UK and USA. We can’t wait to see what we have in store for the 2020 edition!
