Narine Arakelian astounds at the MASH Gallery’s Frieze Celebration
Serbian-born Armenian Artist Narine Arakelian has been making a name for herself in the American Art world since 2019’s Art Basel in Miami. Arakelian is known for creating vivid spectacles, and she continues to do just that.
In 2017, Arakelian’s “L’Illusion du Mariage,” made a splash at the 57th Biennale di Venezia. The effort was so well received by critics that Arakelian was invited back for Venice’s 58th Biennale and given her own solo show at the Armenian Pavilion.
Already this year, she has made her mark in the States during the MASH Gallery’s two-part À GOGO show, first in The Loft at the Hollywood W Hotel; then at MASH’s DTLA opening. The crowd consensus says the double-header was the absolute favorite of the many splendid celebrations during Frieze LA this year.
It is no surprise that MASH included Arakelian’s work. It’s no surprise either that Arakelian’s work stood its own ground alongside the likes of Domingo Zapata, whose 15-story Times Square mural helped make him Brooklyn’s “Most Influential Artist of 2019.”
At the W, Arakelian’s “INITIATION” installation was paired with a statuesque, almost liquid-like rendering of last year’s critically-acclaimed “LOVE” canvas with her cinematically-inclined “Rebirth Subconscious,” all which were pierced together with a stunning scepter of metal and diamond-cut Murano glass. The effect? A deep-dive-of-the-mind.
Her work explores many themes such as tradition, modernism, individual freedom, rebirth and more. With her outstanding work it is no surprise she commanded so much attention at her first L.A showing.
“À GOGO is a disco deluge of contemporary art featuring an array of the world’s most vivid visualists,” stated MASH Gallery owner Haleh Mashim. “Every facet of this multifaceted, culturally diverse and technologically advanced exhibition is taken to the extreme. And every artist represents the best of all possible worlds.”
Arakelian embodied everything that A GOGO is with her piece “HOPE” accompanied by a nearly six-foot glass menagerie titled “Rays” displayed at the event. The pieces took everything she stands for, the critical issues of gender, identity, culture, history, memory and representation that inform all of her work, and which will undoubtedly inform her career.
With many in attendance drawn to her work, understandably, her “LOVE” painting sold on the first night of the event and museum bids flooded in for “INITIATION.” Everyone is on the edge of their seat to see what Arakelian will do next.
