Hrag Vartanian Explained

Hrag Vartanian (Armenian: Հրակ Վարդանեան) (born) is an Armenian-American arts writer,^[1] art critic,^[2] and art curator.^[3] He is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of the arts online magazine Hyperallergic.

Life and work

Vartanian was born in Aleppo, Syria,^[4] raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and lives in Brooklyn, New York. His blog-magazine Hyperallergic was founded by Vartanian and his husband Veken Gueyikian in October 2009 ^[5] as a "forum for serious, playful and radical thinking".^[6] Vartanian has contributed to numerous online and print publications including the blog,^[7] Boldtype, The Brooklyn Rail,^[8] Huffington Post,^[9] AGBU News Magazine, Ararat Magazine,^[10] and NYFA Current.^[11] He has guest contributed to Al Jazeera,^[12] NPR,^[13] ABC,^[14] and WNYC.^{[15] [16] [17]} He was formerly Director of Communications at AGBU, the world's largest Armenian non-profit organization. Vartanian was a staunch supporter of the controversial Hide/Seek exhibit which was censored by the Smithsonian.^[18]

Curation

Vartanian has curated numerous exhibitions since the late 1990s. His most recent curatorial project was "Fixed Point Perspective: Ottoman Studio Photography and its Contemporary Legacy" at Minerva Projects in Denver, Colorado.^[19] The work in the show was a mix of contemporary and historical, and featured artists Gariné Torossian and Hrair Sarkissian, among others.^[20]

Writings

• "Do Bush's Paintings Tell Us Anything About the Former President?" (February 2013)^[21]
• "An Experiment in Street Art Criticism" (March 2010)^[22]
• "Is Contemporary Architecture a PR Panacea for Autocrats? Western Architectural Ethics & Undemocratic Nations" in Brooklyn Rail (September 2008)^[23]
• "The Very Public Life of Street Art" in Brooklyn Rail (May 2008)^[24]
• "Peter Sourian" from "Forgotten Bread: First Generation Armenian-American Writers" edited by David Kherdian (Berkeley, CA: Heyday books, 2007)^[25]
• "An Imaginary Armenian Canadian Homeland: Gariné Torossian's Dialogue with Egoyan" from Image and Territory: Essays on Atom Egoyan edited by Monique Tschofen and Jennifer Burwell (Waterloo, ON: Wildred Laurier University Press, 2006).^[26]
• Bushwick Open Studios featuring artists: Andrew Ohanesian, Tescia Seufferlein, Andrew Cornell Robinson, Richard Martinez.
• "Schwierige Wahrheiten: Die Schriftstellerin Nancy Kricorian (The Will to Resist: A Portrait of Nancy Kricorian)," in Porträt einer Hoffnung Die Armenier edited by Huberta von Voss (Verlag Hans Schiller, 2004). English edition^[27]
• "New York Life Recognizes Genocide Era Insurance Claims," AGBU Magazine (April 2004).^[28]
• "Nazi Style Wars," The Brooklyn Rail (October 2003).^[29]
• "Curating on the Margins," The Brooklyn Rail (Winter 2003).^[30]
• "Artist Biographies," The Clement Greenberg Collection (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 2001).
• FutureHype/Kitabet, edited by Carmen Donabedian & Hrag Vartanian (Beirut: Haigazian University, 1998).
• "Chine Drive: An Arts & Crafts Community," in The Stuff Dreams are Made of: The Art and Design of Frederick and Louise Coates (Toronto: University of Toronto, 1997).

External links

• • Hyperallergic
• Hrag Vartanian on Twitter
• Hrag Vartanian in The Brooklyn Rail Archives
• ArtCat Archives

Notes and References

1. News: Never Mind the Bullets . The Wall Street Journal . Emily . Meehan . 24 January 2007.
2. News: Art of the steal! Thief swipes a Ridley Howard drawing off gallery wall. 27 January 2011. Brooklyn Paper. 24 January 2011. Aaron Short.
3. Web site: New York Public Radio - Live Radio Streaming - WNYC 93.9FM. WNYC. 28 December 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20110725224723/http://culture.wnyc.org/articles/features/2010/nov/12/thesocialgraph-exhibit/. 25 July 2011. dead. dmy-all.
4. Book: Lean, edited by Huberta von Voss ; translated by Alasdair. Portraits of hope : Armenians in the contemporary world. 2007. Berghahn Books. New York. 978-1-84545-257-5. 1st English. 27 January 2011 . 339.
5. http://niemanreports.org/articles/hyperallergic/ Hyperallergic, at Age 9, Rivals the Arts Journalism of Legacy Media: The online outline was ranked highly in a survey of 300 arts journalists by Mary Louise Schumacher, 24 May 2018
6. http://hyperallergic.com/about/ "About Hyperallergic"
7. Web site: Hrag Vartanian ART21 Magazine. blog.art21.org. 2016-04-10.
8. Web site: Brooklyn Rail . 18 May 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110709193932/http://hragvartanian.com/brooklynrail/ . 9 July 2011 . dead . dmy-all .
9. News: Hrag Vartanian. Huffington Post . Hrag . Vartanian .
10. Web site: Hrag Vartanian. ararat magazine. en-US. 2016-04-10. 23 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160423065739/http://araratmagazine.org/author/hrag/. dead.
11. News: My "Art Market Recession Report" on NYFA's Current. Hrag Vartanian. 29 January 2009 . 2016-04-10.
12. Web site: Hyperallergic — My interview on Al Jazeera English today about the.... Hyperallergic. June 2011 . 2016-04-10.
13. Web site: Al Qaeda in Iraq and Maliki in Washington — To the Point — KCRW. www.kcrw.com. 2016-04-10.
14. Web site: Buying art on Amazon. Radio National. 4 September 2013 . en-AU. 2016-04-10.
15. Web site: Manhattan Galleries Focus in on Edward Burtynsky. WNYC. 2016-04-10.
16. Web site: Illustrated Verses from the 1950s on View at Woodward Gallery. WNYC. 2016-04-10.
17. Web site: Social Media Inspires Art Of #TheSocialGraph. WNYC. 2016-04-10.
18. http://www.hideseek.org/print-news/ "Hide/Seek Press"
19. Web site: HRAG VARTANIAN – Minerva Projects. en-US. 2019-03-24.
20. Web site: The Denver art scene's newest hotspots may be right up your alley — literally. 2017-11-15. The Know. en-US. 2019-03-24.
21. Web site: Do Bush's Paintings Tell Us Anything About the Former President?. Hyperallergic. 8 February 2013 . en-US. 2016-04-10.
22. Web site: An Experiment in Street Art Criticism. Hyperallergic. 11 March 2010 . en-US. 2016-04-10.
23. Web site: Is Contemporary Architecture a PR Panacea for Autocrats? Western Architectural Ethics & Undemocratic Nations. www.brooklynrail.org. 12 September 2008 . 2016-04-10.
24. Web site: The Very Public Life of Street Art. www.brooklynrail.org. 6 May 2008 . 2016-04-10.
25. Book: Forgotten bread: first-generation Armenian American writers. registration. Kherdian. David. Agabian. Nancy. 2007-10-01. Heyday Books. 9781597140690 . en.
26. Book: Image and Territory: Essays on Atom Egoyan. Burwell. Jennifer. Tschofen. Monique. 2007-01-01. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. 9780889204874. en.
27. Book: Voss, Huberta v. Portraits of Hope: Armenians in the Contemporary World. 2007-06-15. Berghahn Books. 9781845452575. en.
28. Web site: Armenian General Benevolent Union - Publications . 6 September 2006 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070510115927/http://www.agbu.org/publications/article.asp?A_ID=144 . 10 May 2007 .
29. Web site: The Brooklyn Rail - Art . 6 September 2006 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071004221014/http://www.thebrooklynrail.org/arts/oct03/stylewars.html . 4 October 2007 .
30. Web site: The Brooklyn Rail - Art . 6 September 2006 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070906201549/http://www.thebrooklynrail.org/arts/winter03/curatingonthemargin.html . 6 September 2007 .