Three Artists Exhibit in Netherlands, Germany
by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach
WIESBADEN, Germany, May 16, 2019 — Two years ago, a group of six young Armenian artists came to Wiesbaden, Germany to exhibit their works at the Haus der Heimat. (http://www.mirak-weissbach.de/Publications/Archive/files/96e44e6572b1e38f4cf202e09e7e8bb0-135.html) Now, two of the six have returned, this time with a new colleague, for a show in the Netherlands and a brief visit again to Wiesbaden.
The Dutch exhibit took place at the Galleria Unexpected, in Groningen, from April 12 to May 3. Guy Ghazanchyan, 28, and Arman Hambardzumyan, 31, have shown their paintings and sculptures in numerous countries of eastern and western Europe and the United States. Romeo Melikian was here for the first time but has already exhibited in England, Lebanon, Russia and Armenia.
The opportunity to show their works in Groningen came quite by chance. Gallery owner Kors van Bladeren was in Armenia in 2014 and saw some of Hambardzumyan’s works. Impressed, he suggested organizing a solo exhibit in Groningen, but the artist was not quite ready. He did participate in an international symposium there however. In 2018 van Bladeren returned to Armenia and this time they struck an agreement, whereby the Armenian sculptor would travel to the Netherlands, and would take two colleagues with him. The show, which lasted three weeks, was very well received.
While in the Netherlands, the three took advantage of the enormous opportunity offered by a country with such a rich artistic heritage. In Amsterdam and Rotterdam as well as The Hague they spent days visiting the museums and experiencing the works of the great masters in the original.
Before returning to Armenia, they stopped over in Wiesbaden. Guy Ghanzanchyan became acquainted with Germany at a tender age, when his mother (also an artist) took him to visit his grandmother, Nona Gabrielyan, who has been living and working here as an artist for decades, together with her artist husband Van Soghomonyan. Gabrielyan organized a one-day show for the trio in their atelier/gallery V&N in central Wiesbaden. While here, the three again visited museums in the region, including the famous Städel in Frankfurt, which was hosting an exhibit of works by Titian and other masters of the 16th century Venetian renaissance.
In June, the three will return to Europe for an exhibit at the National Art Museum of Belgrade, Serbia.