Daniel Varoujan Hejinian’s art to be exhibited in Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - From Sept 16-Oct 16, the National Gallery of Armenia in Yerevan will host a Peace of Art exhibit by artist Daniel Varoujan Hejinian, organized by the Armenian Ministry of the Diaspora. This is the first Peace of Art exhibit outside of the United States, and celebrates the 23rd anniversary of the independence of Armenia, while also commemorating the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian Weekly reports.

The art work from the Peace of Art collection reflects human suffering and the triumph of the human spirit, as well as the desire for peace, in a series of sophisticated compositions of over-imposed symbolic images. The Romantic Expressionist paintings reflect the joyous state of mind one may accomplish in times of peace, the seduction and romance in the gardens of Hejinian’s imagination, and musical symphonies of colors.

The exhibition will include art work from the Peace of Art collection, Romantic Expressionist paintings, drawings, graphics, and a series of paintings dedicated to Armenia depicting the tricolor flag.

Hejinian was born in Aleppo, Syria, to parents who survived the genocide. As a young man, at the age of 19, he went to Armenia to study art. After completing his master’s at the Arts Institute in Yerevan, he left Soviet Armenia and moved to the United States, to the Boston area. He was later joined in the U.S. by his wife and their daughter. Soon thereafter his son was born. The family has kept close ties to their Armenian culture, and Armenian is the language spoken in the home.

Hejinian has painted religious murals for seven Armenian churches in the United States. The Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Church in Chelmsford, Mass., alone contains 47 murals. His Romantic Expressionist paintings have been exhibited in many fine art galleries in the United States, from Boston to Miami, and his paintings are represented in several fine art collections in the United States and abroad.

In 1996, Hejinian designed and posted the first Armenian Genocide commemorative billboard in the diaspora, bringing the genocide out in the open to the community at large, calling for its recognition. To this date, every year the commemorative billboards are displayed around the Boston area. In 2003, he created and founded Peace of Art, Inc., a non-profit educational organization charged with bringing awareness to the human condition through art. Peace of Art has conducted several art exhibits in government buildings, including the Massachusetts State House and city halls in several cities; institutions of higher education, such as Harvard University; private galleries; and at the Armenian Museum of America in Watertown, Mass.

The Armenian Genocide awareness campaign became one of the projects of Peace of Art, and since 2004, it has sponsored the commemorative billboards. In 2010, Hejinian donated the complete series of framed billboards to the Armenian Museum of America as part of their permanent collection.