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Exhibition within Armenian Walls: The British Collection of Worldwide Modern Art in Yerevan

The name of the exhibition organized by the British Council - “Rock, Paper, Scissors” - is associated with a favorite childish game for many, however it symbolizes the interaction between sculpture and painting, the two and three-dimensional.

On January 20-28 about 50 exponents of the British Council Collection are being exhibited in Albert & Tove Boyajian Gallery of the Yerevan Academy of Fine Arts.

Some of the works are shown for the first time promising to be a revelation for many students and lecturers.

The exhibition presents works by outstanding sculptors Henry Moore, Bernard Meadows, William Turnbull and others created via various printing methods from the 1950s to the present day. One of the methods is screen printing which makes possible to get copies almost identical with the originals, linocut or etching.

"This is a small albeit interesting and encouraging surprise in the dull reality of Yerevan. For years, the artists whose works are being exhibited were like a dream for me," says art critic Nazaret Karoyan: "Of course, I had a chance to see their works before, but not in Armenia."

Karoyan notes that exhibitions of modern art presenting such artists like Henry Moore are rarely held in Armenia. “Such public collections are news for our reality, unfortunately, they are not available for us,” he says.

The British Council Collection in its 70-year history includes about 8000 different kinds of art works representing the British modern art and culture to the world. This collection has not had a permanent place of show from the very beginning, thus it is known also as a “Museum without Walls”.

The British people represent synthesis of the American and European arts, as well as the riches they have inherited since the colonial times. Proof of this is Anish Kapoor born in India, whose works are available in Boyajian Gallery.

According to Karoyan the impact of American and European approaches are noticed in the works of Armenian modern art. “It may seem strange, but the British and Armenian arts are quite identical in this regard,” says Karoyan. Both approaches greatly appreciate the new technologies because it is impossible to imagine modern art without them.

Artist Ara Haytayan says, “The specificity of the British people is in their approach to printing, which enables the middle class to buy the works by these artists. They work on this technology to be represented among the wider society.”

According to Ara Haytayan, such kind of “bound breaking” exhibitions should be held more frequently in Armenia to become organic for the local society.
The art critic Marina Stepanyan doesn’t agree with the artist. “I wouldn’t like that one day it became native for us,” says Stepanyan. According to her the British are not interested in anything beyond comfort, as they are limited within comfort.

“I don't see feelings turning the work into art. Feeling doesn’t interest them any more. They look for other ways, whereas traditions of our art are like a very strong column,” is sure Marina Stepanyan.

Lilit Kalantaryan, Programmes Coordinator of the British Council, says that it is yet difficult to comprehend modern art in Armenia. And, according to her, the main goal of the exhibition is to represent the art to the youth.
Training-discussions for students will be organized as part of the exhibition. They will visit the gallery, discuss the works in the show and modern art in Great Britain and Armenia.

The next haven for the “Rock, Paper, Scissors” exhibition is Georgia, then Azerbaijan.


Mary Mikaelyan is a student of Yerevan State Linguistic University after V. Brusov

Source: JNews.am

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