MIKAYEL OHANJANYAN
Born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1976. Lives and works in Florence, Italy
The Doors of Mher, 2017
The work is inspired by the tragic and apocalyptic story of Pokr Mher, the last descendent and hero of the Armenian epos Sasna Tsrer, ''Daredevils of Sassoun.’' The Doors of Mher is a sculptural installation full of physical and psychological tension made of blocks in basalt concealing inside engraved texts. The engravings speak of today's world, mankind and his dignity and values. It speaks of 'Pokr Mher', a universal everyman hidden inside each of our souls and waiting to break free one day.
In every project of Mikayel Ohanjanyan's plastic elaboration, we find the attempt to embody ineffability. His sculpture involves and activates opposites: strict exactness versus shadowy forms, in a transparent spaciousness, where substance shades light without boundary lines, where the invisible shows itself in real things, which reveal invisible changes again just in the moment of its becoming perceptible.
Ohanjanyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1976 of Armenian parents originally from Syunik, a mountainous region of southern Armenia. Ohanjanyan attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Yerevan. In 2000 he moved to Florence, Italy to study sculpture at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts, and he continues to live and work in the city. During his artistic career, he has participated in numerous national and international exhibitions, including Frieze London, Frieze Sculpture Park (2016), Armenity, National Pavillion of Armenia awarded Golden lion, 56th Venice Biennial (2015), “AtTrazioni”, LuzArt Gallery (2014), “Equilibri-Plastic Elaborations”, InteriorDAsein, Belin, Germany (2014), “In/Outside of me”, Spazio Blue, Bologna, Italy (2012), Venice Art Biennale (2011), Venice International Architecture Biennale (2010).
Ohanjanyan was recently awarded the Prize Henraux 2014. His works can be found in Italian and international collections including the Vatican, Henraux Foundation, Targetti's Light Art Collection, and in Collection of the City of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Germany; as well as in private collections throughout the world.
The Doors of Mher, 2017