Born 1975, Antwerp, Belgium.
Born in Antwerp in 1975 but raised in New York City, Vahakn Arslanian began painting and working with glass at an early age. Deaf from birth and fascinated by the chaotic beauty of shattered glass, Vahakn found in his art both a route for his imaginative vision and a means of exploring the equilibrium between destruction and creation. His work frequently employs glass—sometimes broken, sometimes intact—as well as found or acquired objects like antique window sashes and hardware, massive airliner cockpit windows, lightbulbs, and even jet-engine fans. The images he places in and on the spaces thus created depict his vision of beauty and absurdity: a bird with a subway car for beak, a candle with too many flames, a flock of tiny Boeing jets converging on the vortex at the center of a shattered window. Vahakn's work has been shown at multiple solo exhibitions in London, Antwerp, Geneva, St. Barthélemy, and his native New York City, as well as numerous group exhibitions, including the St. Moritz Art Masters. His collaboration with Julian Schnabel, "The Ones You Didn't Write-The Maybach Car," was displayed on the Grand Canal during the Venice Biennale. Vahakn divides his time between his studios in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and Petite Saline, St. Barth.
Vahakn Arslanian
1975 – Born in Antwerp
1976 – Moved to New York City
1983-95 – Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf, Mill Neck, New York
1994-95 – Miscellaneous courses at The New School and SVA, New York
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Recent Works, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
2017
Vahakn Arslanian, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
2015
Portraits, Marc Jancou Gallery, New York
2013
Outsider Art Fair, Vito Schnabel
Wings of Light, Marc Jancou Gallery, Geneva
2011
The Ones You Didn’t Write – The Maybach Car, Collaboration with Julian Schnabel, Grand Canal, Venice
2010
Mr. Big Ben, 20 Hoxton Square Projects, London
2009
Jesus Loves Captain Sully Sullenberger, curated by Vito Schnabel, Maccarone Gallery, New York
2007
Vahakn Arslanian, Scream, London UK
2005
Vahakn Arslanian, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
2002
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane . . . , Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
2001
Vahakn Arslanian, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
These Days, Vito Schnabel Gallery, New York
2019
Summer Exhibition: Recent Works, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
2016
World Made By Hand, curated by Sam Gordon, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
2012
Brucennial: 2012, New York
2010
The Brucennial 2010: Miseducation, New York
2007
Art Brussels, Andrew Edlin Gallery, Brussels
Outsider Art Fair, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
2005
The Festival of Dreams (Part 2), Lombard – Freid Fine Arts, New York 2004 – Golden Blessings of Old Age; Out of the Mouths of Babes, American Visionary Art, Museum, Baltimore MD
1999
Drawings, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York
1995
Group Show, Baghoomian Gallery, New York
1990
The Visions of Children: Works by IMAGICA Artists, University of Conn., Storr, CT
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2016
Frank, Priscilla, “The Outsider Art Journal that Believes Everyone is an Artist,” The Huffington Post
2013
Miller, M.H., “An Insider’s Outsider: Vahakn Arslanian at the Outsider Art Fair,” New York Observer
Smith, Roberta, “Feeling Right at Home on the Fringe,” The New York Times 2011 – Barreau, Jade, Interview, Purple Magazine
2007
Vahakn Arslanian at Scream, 22 page Catalog, Essay by Vito Schnabel