Arkadi Petrosyan (1933 – 2013)

Born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1933, Arkadi Petrosyan was a leading modern master and an influential scholar of Armenian modern art.
Recognized as a pioneer of figurative abstraction, Arkadi Petrosyan considered to be the founder of his very unique technique of amazing assemblages of fine lines drawings and oil paintings, whose variations reveal the shapes and movements of the human and animal bodies.
Petrosyan’s art is an attempt to overcome the artificial barriers of earthy life, to enter a magical world where there are no boundaries.
He was a graduate of the Higher Academy of Theatre and Fine Art, and the 1st Prize winner of the Republican competition that was devoted to the 250th anniversary of the great troubadour Sayat Nova.
Since 1970, was a member of the Artists’ Union of Armenia.
1980 – 1984 was the vice-president of the State Union of Painters.
Since 1970, Arkadi Petrosyan was a fulltime professor at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Armenia, a position he held for nearly a decade.
He has exhibited throughout the region and abroad and is widely collected by national and international institutions, including:
The State National Gallery of Armenia, the State Modern Art Museum, Dnepropetrovsk Art Gallery, Ukraine, the Art Fund of Moscow and the Armenian Library and Museum of America.
Arkadi Petrosyan has held numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally, including:

Yerevan (1970), Moscow (1972), Berlin (1980), Lisbon (1983), Yerevan (1990), New York (1994), Bern (1995), Bern (2000), Moscow (2000), Tehran (2001), Ravenna (2001), Moscow (2002), Yerevan (2003), Yerevan (2004), Florence (2004), San Francisco (2006), Yerevan (2010), Yerevan (2014), Beirut Art Fair (2014), World Art Dubai (2015), Art hub Dubai Gallery (2018), Artists Union of Armenia (2019).

Artist Statement:

I have studied Armenian fine art, Armenian miniature painting, Armenian fresco painting, schools of different Armenian times. That’s why my art is more Armenian, though it is also contemporary and universal.

The dominant colors of my paintings constantly change and i usually divide my graphics and canvases into different phases: white phase, bright phase, enlightenment phase, etc. and all have to do with my mood, my way of thinking, my own philosophy about art and so on.

My art style is my own creation. They are all made in a technique that I invented. I don’t like stealing any style from anyone. I am equally fond of all styles.

My secret of creating art that attracts so many people? I was never afraid of anyone or anything in life, especially in transferring what I really see and feel to my canvases or papers. I always did what I wanted to do, and that was the key of my success.