Gorky Exhibit Opening Reception Phenomenal Success for Diocese

See the special section on the exhibit

During a historic opening gala organized by the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) November 20 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, more than 400 Armenian community leaders excitedly were some of the first to see an exhibit of work by famed Armenian-American modern artist Arshile Gorky. The exhibit, more than five years in the making, directs new attention to this profound artist and how his Armenian heritage tinted his life's work.

Gorky was born Vosdanik Adoian in Van in 1904 or 1905, and immigrated to the United States in 1920 after his mother died of starvation during the Armenian Genocide. It was here in the U.S. that he took the name Arshile Gorky and invented a new life for himself as an artist and art instructor. He helped pioneer the new modernist vision of abstract art and became an artistic force in America before his tragic suicidal death.

"(His work explores) the relationship between who he was and who he pretended to be. And why he pretended to be someone else," said acclaimed filmmaker Atom Egoyan, who was one of the honored guests at the reception hosted by the Eastern Diocese. "For Armenians in the Diaspora, his work of symbols truly does form the sacred code of who we are and how and why we got here. He provided us with a system of reference."

Six of Gorky's works--part of the collection of the Eastern Diocese--are included in the Whitney's exhibit, titled Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective of Drawings, which runs through February 15, 2004. The Diocese's opening gala at the Museum drew Armenian luminaries that included Egoyan and his wife actress Arsinee Khanjian, Armenian-American actress Andrea Martin, and Benon Sevan, executive director of the United Nation's Iraq Programme. Also present were leading artists and biographers of Gorky's life including members of Gorky's family and author Hayden Herrera, who signed copies of her new biography on Gorky for the Diocese's guests. (Herrera's biography, Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work, is available from the St. Vartan Bookstore, www.stvartanbookstore.com).

Modern Art Master

"We are here today to pay tribute to the genius of Arshile Gorky, one of the most influential American artists, whose art always revealed his ancient roots in Van and Armenia," said Vicki Hovanessian, a modern art dealer from Chicago who organized the reception.

"Gorky believed drawings were the basis of art. They show the struggle of creating art," said Janie C. Lee, curator of the Whitney's Gorky retrospective. "It is difficult still today to understand some of his art, as much as it was 40 years ago. And that's OK, because it comes. First you look, and then it comes."

For Egoyan, who uses the character of Gorky in his most recent movie Ararat, the master's art takes us to "tangible, yet lucid territory." It is a territory forged in Armenians by a history of overcoming painful tragedy.

"The spiritual description of Gorky's work shows the power of art to overcome that pain," he said.

For more on the life of Gorky and to see some of his work, visit the Eastern Diocese's website: http://www.armenianchurch.net/heritage/history/gorky/index.html.