Ashot Avagyan

Ashot Avagyan (Armenian: Աշոտ Ավագյան; born May 20, 1958) is a modern Armenian artist who lives and works in Sisian, Armenia.

The cornerstone of Avagyan's artistic work is the cultural heritage of his homeland Sisian and Syunik. If iconography of the Neolithic petroglyphs and Middle Age Armenian stone graves are present in Avagyan's works on canvas, the ancient tales, rituals and their interpretations and ancient local monuments (Zorats Karer, Portakar) are integrated into his performances. As artist attempts to create a bridge between the past and the present.

Ashot Avagyan was awarded the state prize in 2013 for the fresco “Mashtots” (Matenadaran, the symposium hall of the newly built subsidiary building of Mesrop Mashtots Research Institute of Old Manuscripts)[1]

Besides artistic work, Avagyan taught fine arts in Sisian Children's Art School after Z. Khachatryan from 1981-2016. From 2010-2018 Ashot was curating works of megalithic monument ''Zorats Karer historical-cultrual reserve''.

Since 1988 he has been actively involved in sociopolitical activities of Armenia, particularly Sisian. He was engaged in local politics, elected as a member of City Council of Elders and has since 1990 been a member of Sisian committee of Armenian Revolutionary Federation․ Artist has participated in First Nagorno-Karabakh War , 2016 Nagorno-Karbakh conflict and Second Nagorno-Karabakh War among Sisakan volunteer detachment of freedom fighters.

Early life and career

Ashot Avagyan was born in 1958 in Sisian, Soviet Armenia. His father, Ararat Avagyan, has been a history teacher and mother Parandzem Voskanyan was an accountant. Ashot's interest in fine arts started at Children's Art School of Sisian, where he attended studios of E. Hakobjanyan, V. Petrosyan and Z. Khachatryan.

In 1977 Avagyan entered the Yerevan Art College after P. Terlemezyan, studying in studio of S. Petrosyan. After graduation in 1981 he returned back to his hometown and started teaching at Children's Art School until 2016.

In the frame of Artsakh movement of 1988, Ashot Avagyan was actively engaged in Karabakh Committee of Sisian becoming one of the organizers of protests in Sisian together with his maternal uncle Vurg Voskanyan who later died in 1993 during First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Avagyan's artistic development was set on break as he concentrated his efforts in the war and later on in development of army as a coordinator of civil issues of Sisian's military unit. He fully returned back to art in 1998.

Personal life

Ashot Avagyan has a younger sister and a younger brother (who also participated in two Nagorno-Karabakh wars) and two children.

References
  1. "President Serzh Sargsyan handed the RA State Awards for 2013". Archived from the original on 2017-02-13.

Further reading
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