Lot 72: ARMEN ELOYAN

ARMEN ELOYAN ARMENIAN B. 1966 UNTITLED 2010 acrylic and spraypaint on canvas 249.5 x 179 cm / 98.23 x 70.47"

Some recent solo exhibitions
Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich 2009, 'Armen Eloyan: bees left it or bears do it'
Timothy Taylor Gallery, London 2008, 'Bookstore Cure'
objectif_exhibitions, Antwerp 2007, 'Bad dad'
Parasol Unit, London 2007, 'Two feet in one shoe'
Buro Leeuwarden, 2005, 'More I Remember'

Some recent group exhibitions
Hamish Morrison Galerie, Berlin 2009, 'Kings, Gods & Mortals'
Shanghart Gallery, Shanghai 2008, 'Involved'
Office Baroque Gallery, Antwerp 2007, 'On the marriage broker joke'
Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato 2006, 'Nuove Opere in Collezione'

Selected publications
Emma Dexter, Armen Eloyan: bookstore cure, London: Timothy Taylor Gallery 2008
Armen Eloyan: two feet in one shoe, Zurich: JRP/ Ringier 2007
Armen Eloyan: represent, more I remember, Amsterdam: private edition 2005

Selected public and corporate collections
Deutsche Bank Collection, London, UK • Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zurich, CH • Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, IT

donated by the artist

The world depicted by Armen Eloyan in his strikingly gestural and expressive paintings can be anything from brutal to messy and dark, yet paradoxically they are almost invariably also loaded with an undercurrent of humour. Eloyan's paintings engage the viewer entirely emotionally, mentally as well as physically. Each of his works is a celebration, or better said, a ritual that he insists on executing in the privacy of his studio, depicting images that usually stem from collective and personal experiences in life. It can be anything from the fairy tales and comic strips he heard or saw during his childhood, to Hollywood films and images of celebrities that marked his youth. He is noted for his large-scale, heavily impastoed canvases. Mixing dark humour with a searing existential vision, Eloyan's practice heralds the return of big and substantial content in painting.

Armen Eloyan is advisor at the Rijksakademie and was resident artist in 2004-2005.