Viewing Room Main Site
Skip to content

Marcos Grigorian: Earthworks

September 27, 2011 – November 25, 2012

MARCOS GRIGORIAN, Straw Triptych, 1982 - 1988

MARCOS GRIGORIAN

Straw Triptych, 1982 - 1988

Straw compound on canvas

32 x 72 in / 81 x 183 cm

MARCOS GRIGORIAN , Dizy Abqousht #3, 1979

MARCOS GRIGORIAN 

Dizy Abqousht #3, 1979

Bread, sugar, ceramic and food sealed in resin

25.5 x 25 in / 65 x 63.5 cm

MARCOS GRIGORIAN , Wedding Bouquet, 1965

MARCOS GRIGORIAN 

Wedding Bouquet, 1965

Ceramic coins, nuts, comb, shells, found painting in soil and straw compound in wood frame

24 x 42.5 in / 61 x 108 cm

MARCOS GRIGORIAN , Tree of Life, 1963

MARCOS GRIGORIAN 

Tree of Life, 1963

Mixed media compound on canvas

31 x 23 in / 79 x 58.5 cm

MARCOS GRIGORIAN , Falling Brick, 1966

MARCOS GRIGORIAN 

Falling Brick, 1966

Wood tiles adhered to canvas on soil compound

41.5 x 39.5 in / 105 x 100 cm

MARCOS GRIGORIAN , Eight of Nine, 1964

MARCOS GRIGORIAN 

Eight of Nine, 1964

Acrylic and sealant on 8 wooden tiles on earth compound on burlap

38 x 38 in / 96.5 x 96.5 cm

MARCOS GRIGORIAN , Untitled, 1970's

MARCOS GRIGORIAN 

Untitled, 1970's

Straw on mixed media compound on canvas

20 x 24 in / 51 x 61 cm

MARCOS GRIGORIAN , Tree of Life, 1960's

MARCOS GRIGORIAN 

Tree of Life, 1960's

Acrylic on mixed media compound on canvas

31 x 21.5 in / 79 x 55 cm

MARCOS GRIGORIAN , Tree of Life, 1961

MARCOS GRIGORIAN 

Tree of Life, 1961

Mixed media compound on canvas

43.25 x 18 in / 110 x 46 cm

 MARCOS GRIGORIAN , Eclipse, 1988

 MARCOS GRIGORIAN 

Eclipse, 1988

Mixed media on panel

31.75 x 25.5 x 6 in / 81 x 65 x 15 cm

MARCOS GRIGORIAN , Full Loaf, 1966

MARCOS GRIGORIAN 

Full Loaf, 1966

Acrylic and glazed bread on burlap

39.25 x 30.25 in / 100 x 77 cm

MARCOS GRIGORIAN , Eclipse, 1988

MARCOS GRIGORIAN 

Eclipse, 1988

Found construction object on acrylic mixed media compound on board

32 x 23 in / 81 x 59 cm

Press Release

Thirty earthworks created between the early 1960s and 1980s by the late Iranian-Armenian artist Marcos Grigorian will be on view at Leila Heller Gallery Madison Avenue space from September 27 through November 25, 2011. Marcos Grigorian: Earthworks is the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York City since 1985 and marks the first solo show of the artist’s work since his death in 2007. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with an introduction by Fereshteh Daftari, New York-based independent curator and former curator at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

 

In the 1950s, Grigorian created a monumental mural!titled “The Gate of Auschwitz” consisting of 12 canvases at 6x10 feet each. Deeply immersing himself into the work, and the horrific nature of the theme, Grigorian in the early1960s radically changed his concept of art, beginning his series of “earthworks”, canvases and multimedia pieces using dirt as its primary medium. Years ahead of his time, Grigorian’s experimentation with earth, straw and paint predate later pieces by American, European and Japanese artists. 

 

Over the course of thirty years, Grigorian formed a significant collection of abstract works largely fabricated by earth media. Using soil, straw, and wood bounded by polyester and paint, the artist created a multitude of two-dimensional reliefs which curator Donna Stein aptly describes as “small capsules of the landscape.”

 

For instance, Midsummer Night #10, 1991, on view in the exhibition is little more than straw compound on a black canvas. Yet in its simplicity, it emulates the night sky meeting the earth below. Grigorian’s use of straw is a direct celebration of the land. 

 

Creation of the Planet, 1963, made of swirls repetitively indented into soil compound on canvas, exemplifies Grigorian’s tendency to characterize his works with bold textures offset by subdued, almost monochromatic, earth tones. 

 

Beyond earth matter, the simple geometric square is also a signature motif of Grigorian’s work. Not only did he use the square as a framing device but also he repeated squares throughout his work. An iconographical symbol of the earth, it is of little surprise that Grigorian felt the square connected so deeply with his work. 

 

Grigorian was born in Russia in 1925 to an Armenian family who immigrated to Tehran in 1930. After graduating from the Academia di Belle Arti in Rome in 1954, the artist returned to Iran to teach at the Fine Arts Academy in Tehran, subsequently becoming a crucial and influential figure in the Iranian modern art scene. Grigorian’s work is now a part of major collections including those of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Gallery of Armenia. The artist passed away on August 27, 2007, at the age of 82.