Beirut hosts Armenian artists’ exhibit

PanARMENIAN.Net - Gallerist Zara Mazmanian founded the Esquisse Gallery in Bahrain in mid-2009. After the Arab Spring arrived in that country, however, the gallery moved to Beirut.

As Esquisse is still under construction and not scheduled to open officially in Ashrafieh until January 2012, Mazmanian decided to open her first show, “Contemporary Dawn,” last weekend at Hamra’s Tourism Ministry showroom.

This collective exhibition is taken from Mazmanian’s private collection, pieces which “spoke to [her] heart.”

“Contemporary Dawn” is comprised of work from such Armenian artists as Albert Hakobyan, Gabriel Manukyan and Mkrtich Mazmanian and Middle Eastern artists like Faika al-Hasan.

The exhibition title, she said, “expresses a fresh start,” and what better place than the Tourism Ministry to host the blending of cultures that the nationalities of artists implies.

Gabriel Manukyan (aka Gabo) is represented by a pair of acrylic-on-canvas works entitled, respectively, “The Wedding Day” and “Across the Bank.”

The exhibition also includes a wide range of figurative sculptures in bronze by Mkrtich Mazmanian – father of the gallery owner.

“Contemporary Dawn” is on display at Glass Hall, in the Tourism Ministry, until December 4, The Daily Star reports.