Nairy Baghramian | |
---|---|
Born | Նաիրի Բաղրամյան (Armenian)
نائیری باغرامیان (Persian) 1971 (age 52–53)
Isfahan, Imperial State of Iran (now Iran) |
Education | Berlin University of the Arts |
Movement | Modernism, Abstract art, Post-minimalism, Minimalism |
Nairy Baghramian (born 1971) is an Iranian-born German visual artist, of Armenian ethnicity. [1] Since 1984, she has lived and worked in Berlin. [1] [2] When the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum selected Baghramian as a finalist for the 2020 Hugo Boss Prize, they described Baghramian’s statues as: "...[Exploring] the workings of the body, gender, and public and private space." [3]
Baghramian was born in 1971, in Isfahan, Imperial State of Iran (now Iran), [1] the youngest child in an Armenian Iranian family. [4] She and her mother flew to East Berlin in 1984, when she was 13, [5] and later reunited in West Berlin with their family. [1] [6] She attended Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der Künste Berlin). [6] [7]
In addition to her artistic practice, Baghramian worked at the women’s shelter that her sister Louise co-founded. [8]
Baghramian captures fleeting human poses in traditional materials such as marble and steel. [9] Inspired by dance classes she took as a child, Baghramian recalls her teacher speaking of the need to break down human movement into discrete elements. [3] [9] Her work depicts abstract forms of bodies or body parts, often contemplating the brokenness or "prosthetic" relationship between the body and its environment. [10] [11] In the Guggenheim video, Baghramian explains that sometimes she builds on the idea of "looking at something and feeling pity for it." [3] In addition, her work creates an interplay between the work itself and the spaces in which it exists.
For the Berlin Biennial she collaborated with ninety-eight-year-old designer Janette Laverrière to create a set for her furniture design. [12] [13]
In 2017, Baghramian's exhibition, Déformation Professionnelle was on display in the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst. [14] This exhibition is the culmination of the artist's 18 sets of works from 1999 to 2016. [14] Déformation Professionnelle exhibits the artist's oeuvre while alluding to existing works in her field. By using sculpture elements and photography in a site-responsive practice, she questions the traditional views towards the relationship between the human body's gestures and their functions. [15]
In 2019, Baghramian took part in Performa 19 collaborating with the artist Maria Hassabi. Inspired by the portraits taken by Carlo Mollino in the 1960s, they created Entre Deux Actes (Ménage à Quatre). [16]
In 2021, Baghramian received the 2022 Nasher Prize presented by the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. [17] She was later a member of the juries that selected Senga Nengudi (2023) [18] and Otobong Nkanga (2024) [19] for the Nasher Prize.
![]() | This section of a
biography of a living person needs additional
citations for
verification. (November 2021) |
Baghramian has been in a relationship with art dealer Michel Ziegler. [24]
Nairy Baghramian | |
---|---|
Born | Նաիրի Բաղրամյան (Armenian)
نائیری باغرامیان (Persian) 1971 (age 52–53)
Isfahan, Imperial State of Iran (now Iran) |
Education | Berlin University of the Arts |
Movement | Modernism, Abstract art, Post-minimalism, Minimalism |
Nairy Baghramian (born 1971) is an Iranian-born German visual artist, of Armenian ethnicity. [1] Since 1984, she has lived and worked in Berlin. [1] [2] When the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum selected Baghramian as a finalist for the 2020 Hugo Boss Prize, they described Baghramian’s statues as: "...[Exploring] the workings of the body, gender, and public and private space." [3]
Baghramian was born in 1971, in Isfahan, Imperial State of Iran (now Iran), [1] the youngest child in an Armenian Iranian family. [4] She and her mother flew to East Berlin in 1984, when she was 13, [5] and later reunited in West Berlin with their family. [1] [6] She attended Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der Künste Berlin). [6] [7]
In addition to her artistic practice, Baghramian worked at the women’s shelter that her sister Louise co-founded. [8]
Baghramian captures fleeting human poses in traditional materials such as marble and steel. [9] Inspired by dance classes she took as a child, Baghramian recalls her teacher speaking of the need to break down human movement into discrete elements. [3] [9] Her work depicts abstract forms of bodies or body parts, often contemplating the brokenness or "prosthetic" relationship between the body and its environment. [10] [11] In the Guggenheim video, Baghramian explains that sometimes she builds on the idea of "looking at something and feeling pity for it." [3] In addition, her work creates an interplay between the work itself and the spaces in which it exists.
For the Berlin Biennial she collaborated with ninety-eight-year-old designer Janette Laverrière to create a set for her furniture design. [12] [13]
In 2017, Baghramian's exhibition, Déformation Professionnelle was on display in the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst. [14] This exhibition is the culmination of the artist's 18 sets of works from 1999 to 2016. [14] Déformation Professionnelle exhibits the artist's oeuvre while alluding to existing works in her field. By using sculpture elements and photography in a site-responsive practice, she questions the traditional views towards the relationship between the human body's gestures and their functions. [15]
In 2019, Baghramian took part in Performa 19 collaborating with the artist Maria Hassabi. Inspired by the portraits taken by Carlo Mollino in the 1960s, they created Entre Deux Actes (Ménage à Quatre). [16]
In 2021, Baghramian received the 2022 Nasher Prize presented by the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. [17] She was later a member of the juries that selected Senga Nengudi (2023) [18] and Otobong Nkanga (2024) [19] for the Nasher Prize.
![]() | This section of a
biography of a living person needs additional
citations for
verification. (November 2021) |
Baghramian has been in a relationship with art dealer Michel Ziegler. [24]