"Yerevan Collectors’ Choice 5: Tatul Arakyan" Exhibition Opened at CCA

August 24, 2023 The private preview of the exhibition, Yerevan Collectors’ Choice 5: Tatul Arakyan, took place in Gallery One and Eagle Gallery of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts on August 24, 2023.

Trained in art history and being an artist in the past, Tatul Arakyan stands out among Armenian collectors: a significant portion of his collection highlights phases in the history of Armenian art that are often institutionally overlooked—the underground Soviet art of the post-war era, as well as the legacy of crucial artists from the transitional period of the 1980s and 1990s; mostly, abstraction and pop art. Tatul Arakyan considers this collection “as an extension of his own ego."

This exhibition, part of the Yerevan Collectors’ Choice series at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, is invaluable for both casual visitors and art professionals. While many of the artists featured are now considered pillars of Armenian contemporary art, many works on view highlight early-career and lesser-known dimensions of their practice.

All in all, the exhibition features an astonishing number of around 120 artworks by 32 artists in the Center's Gallery One and Eagle Gallery.

For over a decade, the Cafesjian Center for the Arts has aimed not only to showcase private collections through its exhibition series, Yerevan Collectors’ Choice, but also to expand public awareness of Armenian fine arts in accordance with Gerard Cafesjian’s founding vision for the museum.  

The exhibition will be open to the public in Gallery One and Eaglet Gallery of the Center from August 25 to November 05, 2023. The admission is free.


Tatul Arakyan (b. 1959) studied in the Art History Department of the Fine Arts and Theatre Institute of Yerevan. He has been collecting fine art since 1990. Tatul Arakyan has organized dozens of exhibitions at his gallery in Yerevan (active until 2015), and has also presented Armenian arts in many museums and galleries abroad.