Mikayel Ohanjanyan

Mikayel Ohanjanyan (Yerevan, Armenia, 1976) lives and works between Florence and Carrara.
He attended the P. Terlemezyan State High School of Fine Arts in Yerevan (graduating in 1995) followed by the Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts (graduating in 2001). In 2000 he moved to Italy, attending the Florence Academy of Fine Arts (graduating in 2005).
His artistic training has deep roots that branch from Armenia to Italy and converge in his artistic practice which is, and continues to be, constantly evolving. The presence of this connection is openly manifested in his works and is the result of the influence exerted by Armenian culture and his own landscape and the artistic training he later undertook in Italy.

The artist has participated in numerous national and international exhibitions, such as the Venice Architecture Biennale (Armenia Pavilion) in 2010, the Venice Art Biennale (Collateral Event) in 2011 and in 2015 for Armenia’s National Pavilion for which he won the Golden Lion (2015).
In 2016 his work Diary was selected for the Frieze Sculpture Park 2016, and exhibited at Regent’s Park in London. Subsequently, the same work, after a long exhibition at the prestigious Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Britain, was chosen for the permanent collection of the same park in 2021. In 2017, two works by Ohanjanyan were chosen for the Fiac – On Site project, exhibited in front of the Petit Palais in Paris. In 2018 the work The Threshold is the Source won the International Prize for Contemporary Art E. Marinelli for the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence. The work became part of the permanent collection of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore / Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence. In 2021, Mikayel Ohanjanyan won the competition, announced by the CEI / Vatican, for the creation of liturgical-artistic works: the Altar, Ambo and Baptismal Font for the church of Don Giovanni Bosco in Bagheria, Sicily, to be completed in 2026. In 2022, in the context of the 9th edition of Stills of Peace and Everyday Life, Ohanjanyan was invited by the Aria Foundation (Pescara, Italy) to exhibit at the Roman Cisterns of the Ducal Palace of the Dukes of Acquaviva in Atri, Italy.

In 2023, as part of White Carrara 2023 / Still Liv(f)e – The Forms of Sculpture, Ohanjanyan was invited by the city of Carrara to exhibit in the city’s public spaces.
Major awards include: Artist selected for Fiac – On Site, Petit Palais, Paris, France, 2017; Artist selected for exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, GB, 2017; Artist selected for Frieze Sculpture Park 2016, Regent’s Park, London, GB, 2016; Golden Lion – National Pavilion of Armenia 56th Venice Art Biennale, Venice, Italy, 2015; 1st Prize – Henraux Prize, Querceta, Italy, 2014; 1st Prize – Targetti Light Art Prize, Florence / Italy, 2009, 1st Prize – MOVIN’UP 2006, Italy, 2006; 1st Prize – II International Biennale of Contemporary Art of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, 2003; Diploma of Honor – XX Florence Prize, Italy, Florence, 2002; 3rd Prize – XIX Florence Prize, Florence, Italy, 2001; 3rd Prize – XIII International Sculpture Biennale of Ravenna, Ravenna, Italy, 1998.