VLADIMIR ATANIAN
1964 Gold Medal for "Sayat Noya" Mosaic,
Dedicated to the 250th anniversary of Sayat- Nova at the Republican Student Exhibition
1973 Honorary Diploma in the International Biennial of Ceramics in Firenze (Italy)
1974 Honorary Diploma in the International Biennial of Valoris (France)
1979 State Award Winner of Armenia
1990 Honored Art Worker of the Republic of Armenia
2007 Diamond Lifetime Achievement Award in Art in Glendale, CA, USA
2008 Jury Special Prize at the Creative Arts Center Gallery
2015 Arshile Gorky Golden Medal, RA Diaspora in Armenia
2015 St.Mesrop Mashtots Order, by Catholicos of all Armenians Garegin II,
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
BIOGRAPHY
Renowned artist Vladimir Atanian was born in 1940, in Yerevan, in the family of publishers
Gurgen Adamyan-Atanyan and Gohar Saroyan. He was married to Anna Ketikyan, with three sons: Armen, Artak and Gor Atanians, all of whom are artists. Now she is married to Irina Srapionyan.
In 1957 he graduated from Yeghishe Charents School in Yerevan, and in 1965, Yerevan Institute of Fine Arts and Theater. In 1967 he taught at the Chair of Design of the same institute, in 1982. Received the title of associate professor in 1991. Atanian started to create in 1960. He has participated in more than 180 exhibitions in Yerevan, Moscow, Riga, Leningrad, and Kaliningrad. His works were also demonstrated in France, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Lebanon, Germany, Tunisia, Belgium and the United States. The museums and galleries of different countries keep and exhibit works of Vladimir Atanian, among them: Yerevan State Gallery, Yerevan Museum of Modern Art, Moscow Museum of Fine Arts, Russian Museum of Applied Arts, Ethnographical Museum of Sardarapat, Kaliningrad Museum of History and Art, The Ksantush Janosh Museum in Hungary, "Gallery L" in France, Sokolsky Collection of Art and Design in New York, and the LACMA Sale and Rental Gallery in the United States. His works are also in more than 200 personal collections. Since 1970,Artist Vladimir Atanian is a member of the Artists Union of Armenia, the Armenian and the International Designers Unions, and the UNESCO. He has received many diplomas, awards and medals. He is a winner of the State Award of Armenia and an Honored Art Worker of Armenia. Atanian is a diploma holder of the International biennale-s of Ceramics in Faentzo, Italy (1973) and Valloris, France (1978). From 1982 to 1987 he was a secretary of the Union, a member of the art council. He is named "Honored Professional" (1996-1997) and "The Best Teacher in America" by US National Almanac "Who is Who" (1998). Vladimir Atanian was also included in the Armenian Encyclopedia and Zauer's "All Nations and Times Art Encyclopedia" published in Germany. For more than 30 years Professor V. Atanian taught at Yerevan State University of Fine Arts, where he had been the head of the designers department. Atanian has made many monumental and everlasting creations in Yerevan, Armenia such as: the "Dvin" and "Ani" hotels, the "Moscow" movie theater, the "Zeitun" recreation center, the "Doctors Institute of Refresher," the water fountain "Rose" of Nork, and many more. In 1992 Vladimir Atanian moved to the US and lives and creates in Los Angeles. He has participated in 30 exhibitions (of which two were personal shows) at Sherberg Gallery, Moross Gallery, Welspring Gallery, Finegood Gallery Viva International Art Gallery and Sokolsky Collection, the LACMA Rent and Sale Art Gallery, Gallery Sculptures Art & Antiquities in Las Vegas, and the Soho Gallery in the Hotel Casino Aladdin in Las Vegas. In Glendale, with his son, Gor Atanyan, he founded Atanian Art Center in 1993, the 25th anniversary of which was marked on March 10, 2019. Lectures at the USLA and the University of Northridge as lectured lecturers.
ARTISTS STATMENT
One of the greatest human qualities is the ability to see good and appreciate it, as well as the power to fight for it.
I paint those things, which we may all look at, but not see. My paintings capture the emotions of human interrelationships. I take what life suggests, and then I filter it within myself, mix it with what is already mine and return it back to life, back to everybody. The most important thing is to find inspiration in everyday life. Concrete realms, such as time and place, are subjectified in my art, often becoming mixed with one another. I place a great deal of emphasis on color, which I consider the strength and power in painting.
I remember during my studies in fine art, I loved every aspect of it, including ceramics, graphics, sculpting, and painting. However, I consider color to be the main factor in a work of art, and light as the visiting reflection of emotions and thoughts. They call me an artist of moods and emotions, which is true, and this has a great effect on my work, which is why the desire to express my feelings in my art makes me search for new art means. My paintings are born from my childhood imaginings then nurtured and brought to mature expression through the emotions and impressions experienced in my lifetime. I am very passionate about remembering where I came from, where my roots are.
I consider myself an artist who stands in his own national tradition and one who draws inspiration form the universal language of Art.
Vladimir Atanian
CRITICS REVIEW
Contact with Vladimir Atanian's creation causes real aesthetic enjoyment, one feels immense gratitude to the artist for the wonderful world of his soul.
V.N. Lenskaya, Art Critic
Art Advertiser of Koningsburg Museum of History & Art
Atanian has created his own world that is wrapped with light and warm feelings, a world that reminds you of the rarely occurring beautiful dreams you'd never like to part with...Besides his talent, more significant for Atanian is his diligence, his boundless diligence. Perhaps for this reason he has shown himself perfectly in almost all fields of the Fine Arts.
Vartan Vartanian, Art Critic
All great artists have been generous in giving themselves to the world. In our own time, Vladimir Atanian, a generous man, committed to creating art that serves the good, presents himself to the world in the form of "The Artist as Visiting Light."
Richard Nathan, M.A. (OXON)
Publisher and Editor of "Mad Dogs & Englishmen"
No doubt Vladimir Atanian is an artist of moods and emotions, it has a great effect on his creative work, his constant desire to express his feelings in his works makes him search for new art means and space compositional orientations.
Marina Stepanyan, Art Critic
Art Academy of Republic of Armenia
Atanian is an artist of active, dynamic character he feels the rhythm of
time acutely, a relentless researcher who discovers new artistic dimensions within the heart of creation itself.
Pogos Haytayan, Art Critic
Vladimir Atanian: The Master of Visions of Multi Colored World
Peculiar are his creations, peculiar is the painter Vladimir Atanian. With his inexhaustible imagination (that often surprises the viewer from the aspects of color and composition) Atanian spreads in front of us the tri-colored drama of Armenia, beautiful wholesomeness of segmented imaginative impressions. Parallels create unique pictures and perception of the world, sudden eruptions of illumination and color. Atanian's brush is flexible and carries a seemingly chaotic (but in reality systematic) essence of multiple manifestations and visions. Some kind of a different thing always keeps to the rhythm of contemporary life, even though the artist never becomes a mere recorder of it. Three in an epic breathing at only in Atanian's paintings, but also in his sculptural creations. Marcesian psychedelic, multi-colored world of different times or happenings is present in every work. Collage is not simply a matter of technique for Atanian; due to the artist's imagination and his subtle taste of correlation, those works emerge beyond mechanical adding's and alliances, they become a breathing system of ideas, an outlook of their own.
Dr. Artem Haroutunian
Professor of Modern Languages, State University of Armenia
Vladimir Atanian: Portrait of the Artist as Visiting Light
Numerous critics have observed that in the period immediately following the tragic earthquake of 1988, there was a striking change in Vladimir atanians style. Gone was the lyrical mood of optimism, as his canvases reflected the great changes occurring in peoples consciousness. However, in much of his recent work Maestro Atanian has returned to the optimism and joy that have always been at the core of his art, while at the same time reminding us of the demonic specters that continually lurk in the shadows. His recent work might therefore be expressed as “Reflections of Visiting Light. Of late, one must identify two specific media focuses in Atanian’s ever-changing expression as a painter. First, his oils and acrylics principally form the period 1993-96, and secondly his work in mixed media, especially employing collage, with which the artist has been increasingly fascinated over the past two years. This recent work shows how far Atanian has expanded his creative force through the vocabulary of painting. It is indeed this creative force that prevents him from dwelling upon methods he has already mastered. Many of the works in his recent portfolio reveal the legacy of Maestro Atanian’s earlier artistic expression through sculpture. In them one can also recognize the ceramist, a craftsman who is accustomed to making things with his own hands. There is, indeed, a visceral and very tactile quality to the work that makes the observer want to touch and to feel. Prominent among the studies of these recent works is that of the feminine, in abstract and surreal expression of face and form. Woman and her surroundings are complemented in each case by a vibrant explosion of color. We seen now, perhaps more than ever before, the great soul that is behind the art of Vladimir Atanian. We seen too his reverence for the great artistic tradition in which he stands. Many have commented on how Atanian is a true Armenian artist, drawing on that country’s spiritual and artistic legacy. While the Armenian influence is omnipresent, Atanian increasingly highlights the universal aspect of his inspiration, with numerous pieces serving almost as ‘homages’ to the great masers of past. But Atanian is no mere slave to tradition and artistic technique. He is rather the dutiful torch bearer, adding his own uniqueness before passing on the artistic flame to a future generation, eager to scale the Olympian heights of fine art. This sense of contributing through individual expression to an ongoing legacy is represented most powerfully in the many paintings by Atanian in which he combines in a single study the past, the present, and the future. Atanian’s combination of images from the Mediaeval period and form his vision of a science-fiction inspired future create a bold and dazzling pageant that, in visual terms, corresponds with the “Magic Realism” of great imaginative writers such Mikhail Bulgakoc, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. All great artists have been generous in giving themselves to the world. In our won time, Vladimir Atanian, a generous man, committed to creating art that serves the good, presents himself to the world in the form of the ‘The Artist as Visiting Light.’
Richard Nathan, M.A. (OXON)
Publisher and Editor of "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" Magazine