Aram Hunanyan at work
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Vahan and Aram, 2007
Vano at work
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After years of hard work Vano has developed his workshop to the point where he can work with any material - gold, diamond, platinum and many kinds of precious stone. But he still maintains the sculpterly elements in his work. Vano's stall stands out from that of other Yerevan jewellers by virtue of his monumental forms.
Monumant to Vartan Mamikonian, designed by Ervand Kochar (1975), photo by Vahan Bego 2006
]]> ................................................................................................................................................................................................Hamazasp Mamikonian was recorded as the family leader in 393. His wife is known to have been Sahakanoush, daughter of Saint Sahak the Great and descendant of the Arsacid kings. They had a son, Saint Vartan Mamikonian, who is revered as one of the greatest military and spiritual leaders of ancient Armenia.By choosing as his subject the warrior who began the fight against Persian assimilation, Ervand Kochar signaled Armenia's silent, stony resistance to Russian imperialism in the twentieth century, in the guise of Soviet communism.After Vartan became Sparapet in 432, the Persians summoned him to Ctesiphon, forcing him to convert to Zoroastrianism. Upon his return to home in 450, Vartan repudiated the Persian religion and instigated a great Armenian rebellion against their Sassanian overlords. Although he died in the doomed Battle of Vartanantz (451), the continued insurrection led by Vahan Mamikonian, the son of Vartan's brother, resulted in the restoration of Armenian autonomy with the Nvarsak Treaty (484), thus guaranteeing the survival of Armenian statehood in later centuries. [from Wikipedia]
Vahan, Warsaw, March 2007
Now, what is he up to here in Warsaw?
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The Statue of Sasuntsi Davit (David of Sasun), designed by Ervand Kochar, photo by Vahan Bego 2006
]]> ................................................................................................................................................................................................ Saying thus, he mounted, careered his horse.
His fiery steed took flight and sailed high,
In the heavens careered, defiantly—
Then downward came the lightning-laden sword.
Through forty hides of oxen did it pass,
Also through forty millstones did it pass,
Clear through the loathsome monster did it cleave,
Cut into his flesh seven feet deep.
“I am among the quick! Strike once again!”
Melik roared from deep within the well.
David heard, and was much astonished
At the blow he’d struck and his Lightning-Sword.
"Melik," he said, "do move about a bit."
And Melik made a stir within the well.
Right down the middle his body split,
One section falling here, another there.
The Egyptian soldiers, when they viewed that sight,
Terror-stricken, their blood to water turned.
from Hovhannes Tumanian: David of Sasun
The story goes that Ervand Kochar sculpted the model in 18 days before World War II. Kochar's subject was extremely symbolic. David of Sasun is a character from Armenian legend, a titanic warrior who liberated the Armenian people from the yoke of Egyptian oppression. During the Second World War, Kochar spent time in Soviet jails and was tortured. After 'the thaw', Kochar returned to Armenia from Paris and his David of Sasun was placed in the Yerevan Railway Station Square. It is a symbol of the Armenian national identity and of Yerevan.In my opinion, Kochar's David of Sasun is one of the greatest equestrian statues. It follows on from Da Vinci's Equestrian Statue and Verrocchio's Equestrian Statue of the condottiero Colleoni. Kochar's sculpture is amazingly expressive and dynamic - you can see and feel the movement from any perspective.
Yerevan 2006, photo by Vahan Bego
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Vahan:
Parts of Yerevan are now indistinguishable from other globalized cities - when standing in some streets you could be anywhere, Berlin, LA, wherever. But some new buildings have a distinctly Armenian feel or style.
The Place Where Lovers Meet
Coffee Seller
Bicycle Repairs
Vahan:
One of the best things about Yerevan is that you can find a drinking fountain every ten meters or so. Can you imagine how good it is to have free water when it's 45 degrees? And a lot of fountains are also exquisite sculptures!
Photos by Vahan Bego, 2006
Links
Officials seize the center of Yerevan
Yerevan 2006, photo by Vahan Bego
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Vahan:
Armenian commieblocks are slightly different from the concrete monstrosities that can be found in former Communist Bloc countries - they are embellished with tuff. Tuff is predominantly pink, but it comes in all sorts of shades - red, orange, yellow - so this means the blocks are not quite so uniform and have some connection with the ground they stand on. The way these blocks were made, it's like building with lego - one slab on top of another. In Armenia, they used to put fragments and scraps of tuff on the concrete slabs while they were still wet, then cart them off and stick them together on a block.
Drying Sheepskins
Bread Kiosk
Bottle Stall
The Edge of the City (and location of Vahan's old studio)
Public Works
Ministry Buildings, photo by Serge
Broken Down Bus
Photos by Vahan Bego 2006, except Ministry Buildings at Night, by Serge
Links
Yerevan's Winter Disaster Zone
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Yerevan 2006, photo by Vahan Bego
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Mount Ararat, photo by Aram, 2007
During the second Russian-Persian war, Yerevan was liberated by Russian troops under Ivan Paskevich on 1 October 1827. It was formally ceded by the Persians in 1828. Following the Treaty of Turkamanchai, Tsarist Russia sponsored Armenian resettlement from Persia and Turkey; by the turn of the twentieth century, Yerevan's population was over 29,000, of which 49% were Azerbaijani (described by Russian sources as "Azerbaijani Tatars"), 48% Armenian and 2% Russian.The European style buildings mostly disappeared after the Soviets finally took control of Yerevan in 1921 and began turning it into an industrial metropolis. The remnants of pre-Soviet Yerevan are dilapidated and scarred, but they offer glimpses...The city began to grow economically and politically, with old buildings torn down and new buildings in European style erected in their place. In 1829, Armenian repatriates from Persia were resettled in the city and a new quarter was built.
The first general plan of the city was made in 1854, during which time the womens' colleges of St. Hripsime and St. Gayane were opened and the English Garden built. In 1874, Zacharia Gevorkian opened Yerevan's first printing house and in 1879 the first theatre, sited near the church of St. Peter and Paul, was established. Two years into the twentieth century, a railway line linked Yerevan with Alexandropol, Tiflis and Julfa, the same year Yerevan's first public library opened.
Beauty Salon
The largest mosque of Yerevan and only one still preserved, the Gyoy or Gök-Jami, (gök means "sky-blue" in Turkish - more commonly known as the Blue Mosque) was built in AH 1179 or AD 1765/6 by the command of local ruler Hussein Ali-Khan to be the main Friday mosque. The mosque portal and minaret were decorated with fine tile work. The central court had a fountain, with cells and other auxiliary building around it, and stately elm trees. There was an adjoining hamam and school. In Soviet times, the mosque housed the Museum of the City of Yerevan. In the mid-1990s, the powerful Iranian quasi-statal foundation for religious propagation agreed to fund a total restoration of the mosque with shiny new brick and tile. This restoration, structurally necessary but aesthetically ambiguous, was largely finished in 1999. However, Armenian authorities, torn between the need to placate a powerful neighbor and desire to minimize the practice of an unpopular religion, have been slow to bless the reconsecration of the complex as a mosque, suggesting it should serve as a cultural center instead.
All photos by Vahan Bego, 2006, except Mount Ararat, by Aram, 2007
Links
This historic landmark is being torn down
Kond, Yerevan 2006, photo by Vahan Bego
]]> ................................................................................................................................................................................................Kond is a city within a city, a kind of enclave. Kond means 'pole' and maybe the neighborhood takes its name from all the poles that punctuate its streets. Kond is a kind of slum area, but it's very unique. Normally slums are found on the peripheries of cities, they spread out from the edge. But Kond is slapbang in the center of Yerevan, just a two-minute walk away from where all the development is going on. Kond is where you can get a sense of what old Yerevan was like. It has an odd beauty, even though the amenities are scandalous. Some of the buildings date back to the seventeenth century, and you can see how buildings have been carved out of other buildings, how newer buildings have been built on top of older ones. Kond is a problem for the authorities. Even the communists - who were not exactly timid when it came to urban planning - didn't know what to do with Kond. It has just been left alone. Kond can a bit dangerous for outsiders - there are criminal elements here. But basically its an enclave, the people from Kond are proud, they keep themselves to themselves. Like I say, a city within a city.
All photos by Vahan Bego 2006
Links
Photographs of Kond by Onnik Krikorian
Onnik Krikorian's photos on Flickr
An article on Kond by Mariam Stepanyan from hetq online
Scarred and encrusted with ammonite-like shells and arcane symbols, these figures seem to be mysterious, fossilized remnants of an ancient animism, or echoes of archaic hybridism and genomic plasticity]]> ...........................................................................................................................................................................................
Khojo in 2006, photo by serg
A great host and cook, it is at Khojo’s studio that, while savouring succulent fish, you will be lightly scolded for not having heard of this or that artist or this or that musician, and at the end of the night when you beg to borrow one of the books or CDs you have been bombarded with, the answer will always be yes.
Khojo's output is prodigious and the works presented below are a recent slither of his activity. The photographs were garnered from Vahan's visit to Armenia last summer, when he was reunited with Khojo and other friends for the first time in ten years. Vahan was blown away by Khojo's current experiments. Although a painter by training and trade, in recent years Khojo has been turning his hands to other mediums.
[Click on pictures to enlarge]
Khojo’s first forays into sculpture have enabled him to grapple with form in entirely new ways. The progression from ceramic to bronze is indicative of growing confidence and mastery. Drawing upon ancient Armenian, Assyrian and Babylonion imagery and symbolism, these initial experiments are modest in terms of their scale (they are currently lined up, biding their time on a single shelf), but they already carry considerable weight and bode well for more monumental developments.
These sculptures introduce us to a symbol or theme that continually recurs throughout Khojo’s vast output – the horns of the minotaur. Scarred and encrusted with ammonite-like shells and arcane symbols, these figures seem to be mysterious, fossilized remnants of an ancient animism, or echoes of archaic hybridism and genomic plasticity
These are Khojo's paintings of the Armenian countryside. They are obviously very impressionistic, as colours such as these are not exactly typical for Armenia! According to Vahan, Khojo paints them as a kind of indulgence.
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Download Download PDF Catalogue of Vahan Bego's Metal Designs
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Dialogue, 160x 200cm, oil on canvas, by Vahan Bego 2006]]>
]]> IntroductionQ – Do you think that everyone is an artist?
A – Yes! Yes! Everyone is an artist, God and a fallen angel all at once. I think that humans are nothing, just ordinary biological bacteria making a mess of the world, and only consciousness of who one is can justify our existence on this planet. Let everyone define themselves by their creativity.
Vahan Bego is a mysterious man. He doesn’t generally give interviews and he doesn’t make public appearances, except in a mask at Sweet Noise Concerts. It is largely thanks to the projects he has worked on with this band that Polish audiences have become more familiar with him. When he works on a new project he holes up in places that nobody knows, where he can be completely alone. Before his work appears in public he makes a long and careful observation of the place where it is to be exhibited. Few people know him well, for few people have the opportunity to meet him or speak to him face to face. He describes himself as a restless soul open to the world he finds himself in. However, you can only really get a glimpse of what he is really like not when you look at his work, but rather when you talk with him, about life, the world and his future.
After months of waiting, countless emails to Vahan and pestering people who could in any way help me make contact with him, I finally managed to conduct a short but intensive interview with him. I assure you that Vahan Bego is not just a talented artist, but also an unusually engaging and interesting person, who can be an inspiration to all who spend a little bit of time with him.
Q – How are you getting on in Poland?
A – Just splendid.
Q - Despite the never-ending political scandals?
A – I was thinking more generally when I used the word ‘splendid’. I don’t apply that word to scandals and the dreary pettiness of everyday life.
Q – In what way are Poles and Armenians different?
A – Certainly their temperament. They’re completely different in that respect.
Q – Does the contemporary world absorb you, or do you live outside it?
A – I adore antiquity. And I live and function with a great deal of respect for today’s world, since I am a real product of that world.
Q – When you appear on state with Sweet Noise or in their videos you always have a mask. What is the significance of this mask for you?
A – For me the Mask has an absolutely pure meaning. I created the Mask 10 years ago with the idea of taking my work outside the studio, so that the process of live improvisation took place before the audience’s eyes. In provocative street happenings and quasi-theatrical performances I brought the figure in the Mask more and more to life, till one day the figure appeared on stage at a rock concert, so I could proudly introduce the music of Sweet Noise.
Q – When are you are alone by yourself, what then...?
A – Then I refuse to compromise with myself. An inner dialogue is a certain kind of violence directed against myself, thanks to which I impose ever higher standards. When I am alone I demand great concentration on what's going on in my head, so that a bit later on I will be able to note down these thoughts and process them into the next work.
Q – What do you like most about yourself?
A – I rather like my ability to shock myself.
Q – What kind of child were you?
A – Rather serious. In truth, I don’t really recall that I was ever a child. It seems I was a bit too serious and grown-up from birth.
Q – So that means that little Vahan never played?
A – From my earliest memories, those childish games never really held any attraction for me. I was always more pleased with interesting objects than toys. I was fascinated with material that you can model or build with, or heat up and shape with fire. Those were my greatest games and fascinations. Chess was the only game I learned when I was a child. Apart from that I never learned how to play anything else.
Q – Is art your life, or is you life a work of art?
A – Exactly... If I create a work of art, it thereby creates me. I fight against being trapped by my art with each new idea I have... but it’s an inextricable part of the process... You immortalise a piece of your life in each work. That question would be better addressed to art critics – they always know best on this topic.
Q – What are the women in Vahan Bego’s life like?
A – Well if there are any, they have strong souls and love. All the others get harmed by me and my work. Like a vampire, I drink their own particular weaknesses from them and toss them away like an empty sack.
Q – Why would an artist, a person with an unusually sensitive disposition, go into the army?
A – From hindsight I can see that the army made me a more sensitive individual. Sensitivity does not only come from a peaceful and carefree life. After all, we are surrounded by violence and injustice. If we do not realize this we will only be sensitive on a pseudo-intellectual level, which is of never of any real value in life. And, secondly, in those times and in that reality I had no choice.
Q – So it was compulsory, not free choice?
A – Yes, compulsory. But when someone tells us what we have to do, we still have to do it with total awareness.
Q – Was your flight from Armenia a liberation, or just a change of reality, with the same old problems?
A – I never ran away from my country. I left with the same awareness with which I entered the army. I did it to find new inspiration that would help me create something new, in a new place and with new demands on myself. I have my own principles. I try not to become too attached to one place. I look upon everything more generally. I wasn’t thinking about problems here or there.
Q – Do you intend to ever return to your homeland permanently?
A – No, I don’t intend to. I’m probably not capable of staying in one place forever, because I’m everywhere. I fly and travel with my soul. (Laughs)
Q – What is your love like?
A – For me, the giver – sculpterly, expressive. For those who are on the receiving end, my love can be destructive and tragic. The person loved by me must be full of self-belief, because when I destroy I create a more perfect form, and this doesn’t suit many people today and not everyone can stand it.
Q – Your symbol is the element of Fire. Why Fire, exactly?
A – An exquisite question! I consider Fire to be the basic element of our nature. A sculptor must be fully aware of the nature of all the elements. I mastered the art of Fire during the long process of heating my sculptures. For me, Fire is a better element than Earth, Water or Air for creating works that will last throughout the ages. In a way I had to embody this element, together with my sculptures. Fire expresses not just myself, but also my art. And the Chinese say that I was born in the year of the Fiery Horse, which comes once every 60n years. Maybe this has some significance... (Laughs)
Q – Are you calm, self-contained or shy?
A - None of these descriptions fit me. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m a terribly restless soul. I’m open to the world and I try to live fairly courageously in accordance with my conceptions, trying to realize a certain idea as my own life cult. SPIRIT, IDEA, CULT, written in big letters, are the three pillars of my creativity.
Q - Many symbols or motifs pop up in your oeuvre. Which are you closest to?
A – I don’t choose or select motif for my works. I treat myself as s Filter for our life. When I hit upon a topic that touches me I take myself off to my workshop and I put it all through my Vahan-strainer until it takes on a scale of universal provocation. If I succeed, I sign my name on the symbol and let it loose in the world. It is then just as close to me as any previous.
Q – However, the influence of Don Quixote can be seen in many of your works. Maybe this is the closet to you?
A – Don Quixote is just as important as any inspirations before him and after him... That character made a great impression on me and I experienced it very deeply. I painted Quixote only for a year. 46 heavily symbolic works came out of this, and then I finished with this theme. And everyone perceives my work through this prism.
Q – And what form of expression do you most like to make use of?
A – I love to express myself in monumental form. It’s the most fascinating form of expression for me. In my art I always try to reach a level of monumental symbolism. That’s my passion.
Q – Are these times good for you?
A – It’s the best time for me. Although many of my friends say that if I has been born 500 years ago I would have been better understood and appreciated by society. In his time, Michelangelo also had to battle with the same stone wall that still surrounds us. And I suppose if it had been any different, nobody would remember him today.
Q – Do you think that everyone is an artist?
A – Yes! Yes! Everyone is an artist, God and a fallen angel all at once. I think that humans are nothing, just ordinary biological bacteria making a mess of the world, and only consciousness of who one is can justify our existence on this planet. Let everyone define themselves by their creativity.
Q – Why did you get involved with the alternative music scene in Poland?
A – Because I don’t like sweetening up people’s lives at supper time. I would prefer it if one person heard and understood me than if I had to exhibit my art before a random crowd that didn’t understand it.
Q – Or maybe your soul plays music which we will hear one day?
A – For me sculpture and painting have always been connected with composing music. It’s the same process of composition. I see in music the heavy forms of sculpture, so it’s probable that you can hear music in my work.
Q – What’s your dream?
A – I’m not a dreamer. I endeavour to call my wishes by their proper names and bring them into my reality in my own way.
Q – Do you control your life or does your life control you?
A – Above all I treat my life with a great deal of humility. Instinct enables me to inscribe something in the meanderings of this winding path that I’m on. But I decide on the direction and the speed.
Q – Are you happy?
A – No. The idea of happiness is foreign to me these days. I feel fulfilled in my artistic life, but I think that happiness is for those who will rub shoulders with my work later on.
Q – What’s you next project?
A – I have a lot of projects, yes, musical projects too, but not at this moment. At the moment I’m trying to put together a huge project that I’ve been longing to do for ages. I want to put up two huge, monumental pieces... like those that I put on stage with Sweet Noise, but this time from marble and in the Middle East. In saying the Middle East I have Israel, Jordan or Saudi Arabia in mind. There where there is the greatest unrest or so-called ‘peace and well-being’. I want to sculpt that monumental ‘Dialogue’ and sooner or later I’m going to put it there. I’m working hard on it. I’ll put a lot more effort into it and a bit of time will pass before my work will have any effect and my idea will come off.
Marcin – Thank you for your time and I wish you all the best with your future projects.
Vahan – I thank you too.
Dialogue, 160x 200cm, oil on canvas, by Vahan Bego 2006
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Figure in Red Air by Vahan Bego, 2004, dry pastel & charcoal pencil on paper, 50cm x 70 cm
This work has recently been bought by Royal Talens and added to their collection.
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