The Cafesjian Center for the Arts (CCA) Announces the Opening of the Exhibition, Quinta del Sordo by Sahak Poghosyan, on November 30, 2023, in Eagle and Sasuntsi Davit Garden Galleries.
The Cafesjian Center for the Arts announces the private preview of Sahak Poghosyan’s exhibition, Quinta del Sordo, in Eagle and Sasuntsi Davit Garden galleries of the Center on November 30,2023, at 6:30pm.
Quinta del Sordo (House of the Deaf)by Sahak Poghosyan is a monumental project that interweaves historical, conceptual, visual, and artistic narratives. Unravelling the complex layers of this ‘multi-storey’ project requires a journey spanning two centuries. It begins in the era of Francisco Goya, where the foundational ‘ground floor’ was laid; then we need to take the ‘stairs’ of the 20th century with Pablo Picasso. Finally, one reaches the contemporary ‘top floor’ with Sahak Poghosyan’s Quinta del Sordo, culminating in the 21st century.
How should we perceive his Quinta del Sordo? Is it a visual quotation, a reference, an allusion, a homage, or perhaps even plagiarism in the eyes of some? Indeed, the works featured in Eagle and Sasuntsi Davit Garden galleries aren’t mere inspirations drawn from Picasso and Goya; they appear as replicas in certain aspects. Sahak Poghosyan’s paintings exude a postmodernist, even metamodernist character, where the new pieces evoke a genuine connection with the past, to understand its relevance in the present, or to suggest new meanings and narratives.
The artist draws a link to Armenian historical and cultural realities through the themes of tragedy, sorrow, irony, and anti-utopia, which pervade the works of the Spanish painters. He does that in a strikingly unexpected manner. For Poghosyan, the ‘House of the Deaf’ symbolizes our current reality, where ‘deafness’ represents humanity’s inattentiveness, and the ‘house’ embodies our planet. This exhibition is a call for introspection, urging us to listen, rather than simply hear.
The exhibition will be open for the public in Sasuntsi Davit Garden and Eagle galleries of the Center from December 1, 2023, to April 28, 2024. The admission is free.
The Cafesjian Center for the Arts is dedicated to bringing the best of contemporary art to Armenia and presenting the best of Armenian culture to the world. Having celebrated its grand opening in November 2009, CCA continues to exhibit unique works of modern art, offers a wide variety of exhibitions and a diverse program of lectures, films, concerts and numerous educational initiatives for children and adults. The annual visitation of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts exceeds 1,000,000 people.
