ARTO CHAKMAKJIAN IN ARMENIA, ONCE AGAIN
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Friday October 16, 2009
The Naregatsi Art Institute in Yerevan hosted world-renowned sculptor
Arto Chakmakjian in Yerevan on October 16. Art lovers had the chance
to meet with the sculptor and discuss his work.
Arto Chakmakjian was born in Egypt in 1933. His father owned a
bookstore and his grandfather was a sculptor. At the age of 12, the
young Arto starts experimenting with clay, which would later help
define the rest of his life.
In 1948, the Chakmakjian family moves to Soviet Armenia during the
Great Repatriation, when almost 100,000 Armenians from around the
world repatriated to Armenia. He immediately enrolls at the Terlemezian
Art Institute where he studies sculpting and painting.
The aspiring artist went on to become a researcher at the Academy
of Arts and Sciences while continually and consistently creating
sculptures that won international recognition.
Arto Chakmakjian was one of the first Armenian artists to try and
break through rigid ideological concepts of social realism and tried to
introduce news styles in sculpting. For this reason, he was persecuted
by Soviet authorities.
In 1975, the sculptor, heartbroken moves with his family to Montreal,
Canada. He is now a member of the L’Academie des Beax Arts and has
created many notable sculptures and received many awards for his
creations.
Today, he occasionally returns to the homeland.
The "Naregatsi" Art Institute, incorporated in 2002 in Armenia, is
a non-profit organization dedicated to serving Armenia’s existing
cultural heritage through supporting Armenian contemporary artists
and creating a forum in which the spirit of art and the common voice
can resonate freely.
By nurturing the expression of human creativity and documenting
artistic accomplishments, Naregatsi Art Institute seeks to enrich the
understanding and the exposure of Armenian art today, the ancestry
from which this art has stemmed, and the future which creativity,
social consciousness, and collaborative energy will lead to.
Naregatsi Art Institute (NAI) is dedicated to serving the spirit
of art, and in doing so sets forth objectives and goals based upon
nobility and benevolence found at the heart of the artistic aim.