Robert Elibekian: Reflections Exhibition Opens at CCA

March 18, 2016 On March 17, 2016 in Eagle Gallery of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts the opening of the exhibition, Robert Elibekian: Reflections, took place.

Born in Tbilisi into a family of artists, Elibekian moved to Yerevan in the 1960s. Within a short time he rose to prominence in the city’s complex modern art environment, eschewing the established Soviet propaganda of social realism. Pursuing a prolific career as a painter, Elibekian also became involved with stage design in Armenia and overseas, while simultaneously working as a designer and producer for a number of films.

As one of the instrumental figures of the “Tiflis school” of the 1960-1970s, his art brought a new aesthetic freedom to the cultural landscape of Yerevan. In his works Elibekian created a phantasmagorical reality, where he could achieve an ideal freedom of emotion and spirit; the artist’s creative compulsion. The exhibition, Robert Elibekian: Reflections, brings together twenty-six paintings from the artist’s extensive body of work, tracing the stylistic and artistic development of his art from the 1960s through the 2010s.  

“The initial exhibition at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts for 2016, Robert Elibekian: Reflections, marks the 75th birthday anniversary of the artist and is a tribute to one of the seminal figures of modern art in Armenia. The Center is pleased to share this extraordinary exhibition with the  local and international arts community, in keeping with the Center’s commitment to present the best of Armenian culture to the world”, - said the Acting Executive Director of CCA, Vahagn Marabyan. 

The exhibition dates are March 17 to June 5, 2016. Public admission will be free during March 18-20.

Robert Elibekian was born in 1941 in Tbilisi, Georgia into a family of artists. In 1965 he graduated from the Yerevan State Institute of Fine Arts and Theatre. 

Awards and acknowledgements include:
1970 - Member of the Artists’ Union of Armenia; 
1977 - Honored artist of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. 
2001 - “Movses Khorenatsi” medal for significant achievement in national art;
2004 - Presidential Prize for the series of paintings “Mystery”;
2008 - People’s Artist of the Republic of Armenia;
2011 - “Saint Mesrop Mashtots” medal from the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts Matenadaran;
Elibekian’s work has been exhibited extensively in Armenia and internationally in Russia, France, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Great Britain, USA, Canada, Lebanon.

His works are included in permanent collections of the National Gallery of Armenia, Modern Art Museum of Yerevan, Sergey Parajanov Museum, Etchmiadzin Cathedral Museum, RA Presidential Residence, RA Government Office, the Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum of Oriental Arts  in Moscow, Alex and Mary Manoogian Museum in Detroit, Élysée Palace in Paris, the White House in Washington, Zimmerli Art Museum in New Jersey.