Narek Arzumanyan

Narek Arzumanyan was born in 1988, in Yerevan, Armenia. He graduated from Yerevan State College of Fine Arts after P. Terlemezyan in 2008 and studied in State Academy of Fine Arts betwen 2009 and 2011. He opened his first exhibition in the Artists’ Union of Armenia, in 2009. Since 2011 he lives in Nuremberg, Germany. Narek Arzumanyan's artworks can be found in private collections and public museums throughout the world.

“My paintings have almost always been misunderstood and I am very happy about that, because I have not tried to be perceived, let alone be understood by anyone. Even now, looking at my own works, I often cannot read what I have done. In a similar way, I find my inner -world, which scares me, also incomprehensible. This is why I’ve always loved works of artists merely on the basis of them being incomprehensible to me. I often go to the canvas with topics that move me, but after I finish painting, I forget what my purpose was. Death has always been one of my central themes, but it is also the cause for my inner-suffering. Dark sadism is as horrifying as it is beautiful! Sometimes I think if I wasn’t drawing, I would have become a social outcast or just another idiot who would hurt himself or someone else. By painting, I try to help myself heal. I have never painted for someone, or a wall, or an idea. I do it solely to grind away the pain. My school years brought me the magic of being able to speak with paintings. Since childhood, I loved playing with symbols, doing it with complete irresponsibility and escaping punishment. Although the symbols were taboo, my purpose never was to provoke anyone. This was just the touch of my style on man-made symbols that usually arouse fear/panic in people. In my paintings, these symbols find a very innocent place where they can rest from being considered as evil. For example, the swastika which is considered a symbol of Nazism is relieved from its burden of being evil and just becomes a line or another brick in a wall.” - Narek Arzumanyan