He has graduated the Yerevan Theatre and Fine Arts Institute in 1966. He has participated in numerous young artists exhibitions in Armenia and the Soviet Union. Since 1968 he is a member of the Artists' Union of Armenia. His works have been exhibited in major cities of the U.S.S.R. (Moscow, Leningrad, Tbilisi) as part of solo and group shows. He has taken part in the Festival of Armenian Art "From Urartu to the Present" (Paris, 1970).
Ara Shiraz is characterized with his monumental sculptural works of art such as the monuments of Baruyr Sevag (Yerevan, 1974), Yeghishe Charents (Charentsavan, 1977), Alexander Miasnikyan (Yerevan, 1980), and William Saroyan (Yerevan's Pantheon, 1991).
In 1979 Ara Shiraz was awarded the State Award of Armenia for his ornamental sculptures decorating the facade of the Dvin Hotel in Yerevan. In 1977 he was granted the title of Meritorious Artist of Armenia. In 1987 he was elected the president of the Artists' Union of Armenia, and a member of the Secretariat of the Artists' Union of the U.S.S.R.
Ara Shiraz' most renowned works include the busts of Pablo Picasso, Yervand Kochar, Hovhannes Shiraz, and Vruyr Galstyan. Many of his sculptural compositions are in permanent exhibit in the Modern Art Museum of Armenia and the State Gallery of Armenia in Yerevan, the Tretyakovsky Gallery and the Eastern Nations Museum of Art in Moscow.
Ara Shiraz' paintings and sculptures are found in many private collections throughout the world: Moscow, Leningrad, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Beirut, Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, etc.
published: 2006-01-01 00:00:00 last updated:2011-05-17 16:20:31
