Ara Berberyan

Born in 1958 in Soviet Armenia, Ara "Arbe" Berberyan grew up as the son of a distinguished artist and professor of Art and Design. He earned praise for his artistic talents, and by the age of 12 Berberyan had his first exhibition and his paintings were sent by the U.S.S.R. on an International Tour, called "The World by Children's Eyes."

When Berberyan was older, he was invited to study at the University of Art & Design in Yerevan, Armenia. Although it was complicated to find books from the West, Berberyan managed to obtain and study those of the artists he appreciated most: Dali, Picasso, Titian, Rembrandt and Klimt.

He earned his Master's Degree in 1981 and quickly began his career as a fine artist by accepting government commissions for murals at the Yerevan Airport, theaters, hotels and other government projects. Already quite accomplished, the 26-year-old artist eventually emigrated to America in 1984.

Berberyan steadily improved his artistic talent, and his work became widely collected and exhibited around the world. The bold colors of his newest contemporary paintings are reminiscent of those early mural paintings he did in the U.S.S.R.; and his crazed characters remind him of some of the mad Party loyalists and frightened young artists he associated with back then.

Trapped in their own emotion states, Berberyan’s peculiar figures exemplify the strange and the mundane experiences we all face from time to time. An occasional flourish of vibrant reds, blues, purple, green or lavender grabs and pulls us into their world. The effect is a mixture of expressionism and abstract movements, brimming with raw emotion, creating a world from Berberyan’s imagination.