Armen Agop
"In my work in general, we can see the exploration of the broad horizon between the physical and the spiritual.”
Armen Agop is an award-winning, contemporary artist best known for his spiritually charged sculptures and paintings, derived from his exploration of ancient spiritual heritages. Agop engages meditative practices in his process, prioritizing inwardness, and inner monumentality. Asceticism, slowness, and renouncement of demonstrative abilities are features that characterize his working approach. The focus is always on the invisible and the internal energy that each work radiates. (Read More)
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Agop was born in Cairo to Armenian parents, where he was confronted daily with the dualities of the spiritual heritages of the two ancient cultures. The dialog between the two created in him a continuous reevaluation of values, a unique perspective between East and West and old and new. This led to his exploration of ancient meditative practices and adapting them to a personal practice in his work.
By the age of 13 he apprenticed with painter Simon Shahrigian, before studying at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Helwan University in Cairo. Following his graduation in 1992, he won a research scholarship at the same university. He exhibited across Egypt, and in 1998, he won the Sculpture Prize Autumn Salon. In 2000, his national recognition was solidified when he won the prestigious Rome Prize and moved to Italy. In 2010, Agop won the Umberto Mastroianni International Prize and later in 2013, he was awarded the Sulmona Prize, the Presidential Medal of the Italian Republic. His works are part of the collection at the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art in Cairo, the Open-Air Sculpture Museum in Aswan, the Coral Springs Art Museum in Florida, the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE, the Mathaf, Museum of Modern Arabic Art in Doha, and the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels.
Armen Agop currently lives and works in Pietrasanta, Italy.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Awards & Honors
2013 Premio Sulmona, Presidential Medal of the Italian Republic, Italy
2010 Premio Umberto Mastroianni 2010, Piemonte Biennale, Italy
2006 Artist In Residence, Coral Spring Museum of Art, Florida, USA
2000 Rome Prize, State Award for Artistic Creativity, Egypt/Italy
1998 Sculpture Prize, Autumn Salon, Cairo, Egypt
Important Exhibitions
2024 Mantras, Art of the World Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA
Important Group Exhibitions
2023 Parallel Histories: Works from the collection of Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, UAE
Reversed Safari, Contemporary African Art, The Manege Central Exhibition Hall, St. Petersburg, Russia
2015 Più Forte Del Vento, MUSA, Pietrasanta, Italy
2013 Selections from the Collection, Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar
2010 7th Biennale Internazionale di Scultura della Regione Piemonte, Piemonte, Italy
4th Beijing International Art Biennale, Beijing, China
2008 11th Cairo International Biennale, Cairo, Egypt
Selected Acquisitions & Public Works
City of Braunau, Austria
Villa Empain/Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium
Al Ahram Foundation, Cairo, Egypt
Aswan Open Air Museum, Aswan, Egypt
Egyptian Modern Art Museum, Cairo, Egypt
Museo dei Bozzetti, Pietrasanta, Italy
The Ritz-Carlton, Fari Islands, Maldives
Icheon City Sculpture Prak, South Korea
Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Coral Springs Museum of Art, Florida, USA
Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar