Entering Jerusalem
Vagan Ananyan "Entering Jerusalem" (2002)
Art of Vahan Ananyan

 
For several years (1980-1987), while he was in the process of deepening and honing his technique, Vahan Ananyan participated in numerous group exhibitions in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Odessa. These were followed by three solo exhibitions in Tallinn, 1987, 1991, and 1993, which cemented his reputation as a visionary, with his own style of painting.

Vahan had always been attracted to Odessa, a city of multi-layered artistic tradition. In 1996, his first personal exhibition opened in Odessa, followed by six exhibitions in 1998, 1999, and 2002. Vahan’s works from the last exhibition were included in the Golden Almanac of Odessa.

The visionary art of Vahan Ananyan is characterized by multiple variations of symbolic images. A unique combination of the abstract and the representational, his work is endowed with a peculiar language of powerful metaphors.

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Vahan Ananyan’s art on FB: https://www.facebook.com/kilpvahanananyan/

About the Author:

Vahan Ananyan
Vahan Ananyan
Yerevan, Armenia / Odessa, Ukraine

Vahan Ananyan was born on June 22, 1959, in Yerevan. He started painting in early childhood. He studied drawing, composition, and painting while studying in the workshop of Sergey Stepanyan, a famous Armenian sculptor. Already in 1977, Vahan held the first solo exhibition in Yerevan. It was followed by two more exhibitions, in 1978 and 1979. These exhibitions established his reputation as a master of his craft. In 1994, he moved to Odessa, where he was to have seven solo exhibitions of his works. In 2005, he was invited to and participated in the Biennale of Contemporary Art in Florence. He died on December 18, 2006, in Odessa, after a protracted illness. His ashes are buried in three cities – Yerevan, Tallinn, and Odessa. 2007 saw a posthumous exhibition of his paintings, which presented two main periods of his work – his Tallinn period and his Odessa period.

Vagan Ananyan
Bookshelf
fireflies
by Dmitri Manin, Anna Krushelnitskaya

A hybrid scholarly and literary volume of popular Russian-language Soviet children’s texts alongside essays that outline the significance and meanings behind these popular texts.

cockroach cover
by Nina Kossman

A collection of nonsense poetry for readers who love Edward Lear, Hilaire Belloc, and all things delightfully peculiar.

Naza s book
by Naza Semoniff

A haunting dystopia some readers have called “the new 1984.” In a society where memory is rewritten and resistance is pre-approved, freedom isn’t restricted; it’s redefined. As systems evolve beyond human control and choice becomes a simulation, true defiance means refusing the script, even when the system already knows you will.

Version 1.0.0
by Nina Kossman

 

A new book of poems by Nina Kossman. “When the mythological and personal meet, something transforms for this reader…” -Ilya Kaminsky

Videos
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EastWest Literary Forum Bilingual Poetry & Prose Reading. July 13, 2025.
Length: 2 hrs. 08 min