The solo exhibition “Visual Formations” at Morat Institute for Art and Art History in Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany

The Armenian artist Arman Vahanyan (KulturDialog Armenien) is in Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany, since February 9th, 2018 in order to prepare his large-scale solo exhibition, which will be presented by Foundation KulturDialog Armenien at ‚Morat Institute for Art and Art History‘ in Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany, from June 24^th to September 15^th, 2018. Thanks to the cooperation with ‘Morat Institute for Art and Art History’, the German audience will have the opportunity to see a comprehensive work panorama showcasing graphic works and paintings of Vahanyan’s artistic career of the last 18 years and to gain insight into the oeuvre of an excellent representative of contemporary Armenian art for the first time.

From January until July 2016, Arman Vahanyan was the first Armenian artist to participate in the international artist’s exchange program initiated by Foundation KulturDialog Armenien and organized in cooperation with Atelier Mondial (Christoph Merian Stiftung). Basel, Switzerland, and the Cultural Office of the City of Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany. This way, he had the chance to live and work as artist-in-residence in ‘Städtisches Kunsthaus L6’ for 6 months. The six large-scale oil paintings Vahanyan created during those months were presented in his solo exhibition “Visual Formations” at ‘T66 Kulturwerk’ (Artists’ Association of the Region of South-Baden) at the end of his artist-in-residence stay. A small selection of graphic works by Vahanyan had been exhibited together with works by the Swiss artist Therese Weber (pulp painting) in the exhibition “KunstDialog No.1” at ‘a.a.1 Kulturraum Arlesheim’, Arlesheim, Basel-Country, Switzerland in June 2016.

Arman Vahanyan and his art were met with great interest by the local audience and, as a consequence, he was invited by ‘Künstlerwerkstatt L6 e.v.’ to return to Freiburg in November and December 2016 and to work on his linocut technique in the professional printing studio of ‘Künstlerwerkstatt L6 e.V.’ in Freiburg. On invitation of Atelier Mondial (Christop Merian Stiftung), he then spent the first three months of 2017 as artist-in-residence with Atelier Mondial, Basel, Switzerland. There, he was able to decisively improve his knowledge of woodcut and lithography techniques working together with Marcel Mayer at the professional printing studio “druckwerk”, in Basel, Switzerland.

Alongside with a selection of graphic works of the last three years (etching, offset lithography), Vahanyan exhibited his latest works (linocut, woodcut, lithography) together with one oil painting painting from the series “Visual Formations” (2016) at Salon Mondial (Atelier Mondial/ Christoph Merian Stiftung) in Basel in March and April 2017 in his solo exhibition “Ever Day’s Surface”. In a far larger constellation, Foundation KulturDialog Armenien presented those latest graphic (linocut, woodcut, lithography) with works from the last 17 years (etching, dry point, aquatint, monotype, off-set lithography) in the solo exhibition “Parallel Realities” at ‘Kurfürstliches Gärtnerhaus’ in Bonn, Germany. After a first solo exhibition “Returning to the Present” with graphic works (monotypes) of the Armenian artist Tigran Kirakosyan in 2016, Foundation KulturDialog showed in the solo exhibition of Arman Vahanyan “Parallel Realities” examples of contemporary Armenian printmaking to the German audience in Bonn for the second time.

In the context of the ‘First International Print Biennale Yerevan 2017’, Foundation KulturDialog Armenien provided Vahanyan with the occasion to present the solo exhibition “Every Day’s Surface” with his new graphic works of 2016 and 2017 to the Armenian audience at Dalan Art Gallery in Yerevan in November 2017. Participating in the ‘First International Print Biennale Yerevan 2017’, Arman Vahanyan was awarded the 3. Prize of the international jury for his off-set lithography works of 2014.

Vahanyan will take advantage of the months until June 2018 to continue and intensify new approaches in painting,, which he elaborated during working on his “Visual Formation” Series of 2016. After his stay in Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany, he will participate in a 12-days program of ‘Edition Basel’ at the professional printing studio “druckwerk”, in Basel, Switzerland. Together with a group of international artists, he will work on a given printmaking theme and will continue the Swiss-Armenian printmaking dialogue started in 2017.

The solo exhibition, which will be presented by Foundation KulturDialog Armenien in cooperation with ‘Morat Institute for Art and Art History’ from June 24^th to September 15^th, 2018, will showcase the complete artistic oeuvre of Arman Vahanyan with paintings (tempera, gouache, oil painting) and graphic works, i. e. printmaking (etching, aquatint, monotype, off-set lithography, linocut, woodcut, lithography) of the last 18 years. An illustrated, trilingual oeuvre catalogue (German, English, Armenian) will be published on the occasion of this exhibition in Freiburg, introducing the reader to Vahanyan’s works, his artistic development, his motives and his inspiration.