Award of Grigor Khachatryan

Award of Grigor Khachatryan

Author: Grigor Khachatryan

Year: Ongoing from 1975

The “Award of Grigor Khachatryan" is endowed with a peculiar paradox, as the award and its appellation is identical. The founder of this prize is Grigor Khachatryan himself, who declares." You are not men, you are the contemporaries of Grigor Khachatryan, or I am not a man. I am Grigor Khachatryan". It means that Grigor Khachatryan is an ideal and not an ordinary creature. The moment of appearance of the perfect is the moment of transferring the normal creature into the muse. This ridiculous imitation is a double blow to the social and personal narcissism of the artist. An award in the Soviet system meant that "Soviet people" and "The Communist Party" appreciated the art of the artist. However, it didn't mean that the artist was above other people. On the contrary, the award–winner was accompanied by personal humiliation, stressing that the artist was an ordinary man. By awarding the prize, they emphasized the artist's modesty. Thus, the winner of the award was the people and the party. The artist in that rite was a secondary performer.

The overthrow of the Soviet System was indeed a self-critical deed. Ridiculing the Soviet social rite was a partial factor for the award of Grigor Khachatryan. The most crucial factor here is the artist's manifestation by giving prizes. Getting recognition for an artist means much as he approaches or identifies himself to his "Ideal –I". It is a significant moment as, while creating something, he tries to admire his "Ideal –I", always being worried by the latter's appreciation.

Grigor Khachatryan turns that serious love affair into a farce, an "Ideal –I" act, where he becomes the one longed for. This ridiculous self-imitation makes reconsider the notion of ideal, as it is very abusive when the other ideal is better than the muse. Finally, it improves our understanding of ideal cleansing it from self-seeking motives.

Vardan Jaloyan (art critic)