Discover the contemporary work of zaven
Zaven (Khatchatrian Vahan), abstract painter
The artistic vocation of Zaven, founder of the Gavart gallery, began very early, at the age of nine, in Armenia (his native country) in a picturesque region, where nature is very colorful and ardent. At fifteen, Zaven entered the Higher School of Fine Arts in Yerevan, and obtained, four years later, the diploma of « professor of painting".
The Soviet system only allowed academic art, so a priest friend advised him to enter a monastery, since the Church was separated from the State. He could thus freely exercise his talents as an abstract painter, a discipline not recognized by the system. The presentation of his thesis, centered on the understanding of sacred art, convinced the jury, made up of theology professors, and he entered The Academy of Theology of Etchmiadzin (1980-1985).
In 1985, having become abbot, Zaven was appointed managing director of the monastery museum and secretary of the Catholicos (the pope for Armenians). After a doctorate on the symbol and Christian relics, Zaven became an archimandrite, while continuing to paint and exhibit. He then went to study in Paris: two years at the Catholic Institute, then one year at the Beaux Arts in Paris.
Chargé of the Organization within the Board of Directors of the Church of Armenia in Paris, Zaven notices fraud, and protests to its leaders, who do not appreciate his attitude.
Hunted in France by KGB agents, mandated by his own Church! The manhunt miraculously fails.
Driven out of the Armenian Church for disobedience and deprived of the possibility of exercising his vocation as a priest, he then devotes himself exclusively to his other passion: "artistic creation". He actively participates in many exhibitions and personal exhibitions, without ever losing hope of one day rejoining his Church. All his requests in this direction have, for the moment, remained unanswered.
In 2000, he therefore decided to create his own gallery: the Gavart gallery.
La recherche essentielle de Zaven repose sur des visions colorées avec la force et l’originalité qui sont propres à son imagination illimitée. C’est un art sacré qui souligne ses créations riches et saisissantes et vastes évocations métaphysiques porteuses d’images et de rêves . Zaven explore ainsi le subconscient, dans l’abstraction de ses thèmes.
Angélica Grimaldi,
présidente d’Arts-Inter