MIKAYEL OHANJANYAN

Mikayel Ohanjanyan (Yerevan - Armenia 1976) comes to Italy for the first time to participate in the XIII International Dante Biennale of Sculpture (Ravenna, 1998). Being the youngest participant ever in the history of the event, he wins the third prize for the work "The blessing of Aries".

"It featured a pyramid as Gates of Paradise, a plastic and conceptual solution, spatial and volumetric one, with a mobile component that exposes the inner "writing”, poetry and revelation”.(George Segato, art critic, former Secretary of International Biennale of Bronzes in Padua, Secretary of Dante International Biennale of Bronzes in Ravenna)

Gained over the years of study at the Higher Art School in Yerevan and at the Academy of Fine Arts in the Armenian capital, the artist’s training combines a thorough study of formal aesthetic with mastering a skill in handling the materials and is based on the advanced knowledge of classical and traditional art. On top of this experience, new enriching artistic research, experimentation with the materials and study on the relationship between man, form and space, were conducted while studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence and investigating new artistic movements of contemporary art.

His thinking was shaped by various encounters while living and traveling across Russia, Syria, Cyprus, Egypt, France and Italy and the major geopolitical changes related to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of Armenia.

Currently in his work is dominant “An urge towards making sculpture as exploration  and communication with the space and material, as the essential elements of human life”.(George Segato, art critic, former Secretary of International Biennale of Bronzes in Padua, Secretary of Dante International Biennale of Bronzes in Ravenna)

Among the most important awards are:

I award - Premio Targetti Light Art, Italia, 2009 (ongoing)

I award - MOVIN’UP 2006, Italia, 2006

I award - II Biennale Internazionale d’Arte Contemporanea di Pavia, Italia, 2003

III award and Honorary Degree  - XIX e XX Premio Firenze, Italia, 2001, 2002

III award - XIII Biennale Internazionale di Scultura, Ravenna, Italia, 1998

Member of the UNESCO International Association of Plastic Arts, the International Cultural Organisation “ARIAN-ESSOR” ( Paris), Permanent membership at the Artist’s Union of Armenia.

His works are found in Elesiastic College of the French Pontifical Seminare of Vatican (Rome), Pontifical College of  St. Roberto Bellarmine of Vatican (Rome), Museum of the Centro Dantesco of Ravenna (Italy), Museum of Contemporary Art  of Pavia (Italy), Private collections in Armenia, Italy, Canada, Netherlands, Belgium and USA.

by Antonella Serra