Glance II, 2015

Gago Chtchyan  

Gago Chtchyan was born in 1969 in the Armenian town of Gyumri, where he was raised in a family consists of famous composers, singers and artists in Armenia. He graduated from the Gyumri Art School with honors and from the Yerevan Art College. Gago moved to Moscow since 1992 for searching new ideas, where he became popular. He participated in the Artlink@Sotheby's auction of young artists in Chicago, Art Asia Miami 2010. Gago's works are collected by galleries and private collectors in Russia, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Norway, USA and Japan. The artist now lives and works in Armenia.

Through the practice of traditional genres like paintings and portraitures, Gago Chtchyan's works reflects the artist's very personal response to the collective memories and experience of Armenian people, as well as expressing individuality, the Self.

Gago's consistency in using a relatively traditional medium is respectful of the language of painting and reminds us the elegance and aura of what we have known about art since the very beginning. In his work, there is often a slight scent of the Indo-European Caucasians, i.e. the drawing of portraiture. Faces and human figures play a central role in his paintings, which are similar to the style of mask in tribal art across Africa and the Middle-East, as well as the figurative images that appeared in religion art during the Medieval Period.

Gago is very sophisticated in controlling the canvas. Without excessive layers of paint on the canvas, there remains a certain depth, in which the sometimes-used vivid colors, the traces of sketch and drawing lines give the lives of the figures that appear in the paintings. The soft tone and grace of lines brings the viewer into a peaceful, magical world. The minimalistic aspect keeps his work subtle yet reminds us a mixed feeling of Picasso and Merrello. With the blending of modernism and uniqueness, Gago's paintings are valuable in terms of aesthetics, individuality and the record of the present history of where he lives and works.