Vatche Geuvdjelian

Treasures In The Flames (colorful abstract surrealist painting) Armenian Artist

2007

Vatche Geuvdjelian is an Armenian Painter/Poet born June 24th 1956, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since 1982, his studio is in Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico. The first five years of his life he spends in Ethiopia absorbing the equatorial geography and colorful culture of his birth place. Subsequently moves to Beirut, Lebanon, and attends primary and secondary schools for eight years. The two following years he studies at Kingswood School, Bath Spa, England. Graduating high school at the age of fifteen. In 1971 he enrolls at Haigazian College in Beirut, Lebanon as an undergraduate student, becomes editor in chief of college news paper for the next two years. Then spends another year as a religious volunteer, working for a famine relief organization (C.O.N.C.E.R.N.) back in Ethiopia. Due to the civil war in Lebanon he is unable to return there, and moves to Southern England to continue his undergraduate studies at New England College, Arundel, West Sussex. After two years he transfers to the U.S. campus of the same learning institute at Henniker, New Hampshire. Graduates with a Bachelor of Arts degree, in Arts and Communications in 1978. In 1978 he moves to Toronto, Ontario, and in 1982 moves to Mexico. The creative artisanal culture and the rich tropical colors in Mexico become a powerful attraction to the young painter, and in 1982 he establishes a permanent studio there. The "Mestizo Mexican culture" fascinates Vatche and becomes the focal point of his artistic expression for the next twenty years. He travels extensively throughout Mexico, drawing, painting and writing his impressions of the local Indigenous and Mestizo peoples. Three important personal factors influence his approach throughout these years : 1) "Spiritual Search" in developing as a human being 2) Sorting Childhood memories of Africa and the Middle East. Attempts at dealing with " immigration and change". 3) Technique, the importance of "experiencing the creative moment", and trusting the improvisations that immerge from this experience. In Mexico he sees the world of the Native Peoples' traditions colliding and merging with the western world values of Modern Mexico. The vital first hand experience of living close to the Purepechas of Michoacan, the Huicholes of Jalisco, and the Mayas of Chiapas becomes more important as his knowledge of the region increases. Vatche’s visual language has evolved into a fluent abstraction. The vitality in Native American pictography and Early Caucasian glyphs are evident in his paintings of these years. Today Vatche is today involved in creating colorful structural expressions that depends on logical observation, but at the same time it is brought to realization flowing through the filter of his emotions and an inner sense of intuitive abstraction. Vatche has exhibited his art at galleries in Toronto, Ontario, and Los Angeles, California, as well as in various art institutes in Mexico. He favors oil paints on canvas for his final expressions, but always remains true to his love of oriental inks combined with watercolors on paper.