Karo Mkrtchyan (Armenian: Կարո Մկրտչյան, 28 March 1951 – 2001) was a well-known Armenian painter and public figure. He was aligned with the avant-garde movement. An independent and freethinker, Karo fled the USSR's cultural blockade. For much of his life Karo Mkrtchyan lived and painted outside his native USSR.
Karo Mkrtchyan was born in the Banants village, Gardman Province of Artsakh, Armenia. In 1968 he left secondary school. Karo became a member of the Artists' Union of Armenia in 1971 and two years later, in 1973, graduated from the Yerevan State Institute of Art and Drama. In 1981 he was nominated as a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. He graduated from the Moscow Academy of Painting in 1982. From 1996, Karo was a member of International Association of Artists UNESCO. From 1996 to 1999 he worked in Paris at the International Association of Art.[1] Karo Mkrtchyan died in Yerevan in 2001.
Armenian and foreign press wrote a lot about Karo Mkrtchyan's life and activity.
Paintings are kept in the National Picture Gallery of Armenia, the Museum of Modern Art of Armenia, The Union of Artist of Armenia, in the Fund of the Ministry of Culture of Armenia, the Moscow State Picture galleries, the Art Museum of London, Japan, France, USA and in many private collections.