Stepan Veranian

In 1946 his parents immigrated to Armenia from Greece.

They were exiled to the Altai region of Siberia from 1949 to 1955.

His brother, Artur Veranian, is a conductor.

Stepan Veranian (Ստեփան Վերանյան; born 6 September 1955, in Yerevan) is an Armenian postmodern artist.

Veranian was born in Yerevan to English teacher Beatrice Veranian and Hovhannes Veranyan, a conductor, who graduated from the Athens Conservatory and the Milan Conservatory.

From 1965 to 1970 Veranian studied at Yerevan's Martiros Saryan Art School.

Works of his childhood are in the permanent exhibition at the Armenian Museum of Children's Art.

In 1979 he graduated in Industrial Design, Graphic Design and Painting from the Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts.

Later he destroyed all his paintings from this early period.

In 1981 Veranian became a member of the Artists' Union of USSR.

Veranian married actress Nora Badalian in Yerevan on 29 November 1981; they have a daughter and son.

From 1981 to 1991, Veranian was the head of the Graphics Department, National Center of Aesthetics of Armenia (NCA).

In November 1981, he had his first show at the Artists' Union of Armenia and then at the Modern Art Museum, Yerevan (MAMY).

Veranian's early abstract works include Garni (1983), Cilicia 01 (1984) and Cilicia 02 (1986).

These works show the influence of Armenian ancient art.

He exhibited Cilicia 02 in the Central Exhibition Hall Manege, Moscow, in 1986.

Soviet art critic and art historian Aleksandr Kamensky wrote "Veranian is very talented. He has a wonderful sense of color, but this road leads to nowhere" in the Literaturnaya Gazeta (Literary Newspaper).

In 1991 his work Migration (tales of the Aegean Sea, sheet 02 and 03) was acquired by the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.

An exhibition of nine artists, "9" (1992), held at MAMY, served as the spring-board for several projects in the following years, leading to the creation of the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (ACCEA).

Veranian has created a number of installation art pieces including a glass balloon.

With an expanded group of artists, an exhibition entitled Cuckoo Clacked (1992), and Identification (1993) were held at MAMY.

Church (1994), devoted to the artist's grandfather Stepan Hovhannes, who was a priest in the Armenian Apostolic Church in Athens, consisted of dust, steam heating pipes and graffiti on the floor.

This installation has been exhibited at MAMY.

Corpus Hermeticum (1995) included green glass vintage wine jugs with hand print engravings inside, and graffiti on the floor.

Zeazea Beazea, Sibyl, Metamorphoses (1996) was a collection of perfumery accessories and jars of cream, women's jewelry, jewelry boxes, combs, etc.- a drama of an aging beautiful woman.

B2 Stealth Bomber, Buried Cities (1996) was a triangular shape on the concrete floor with a striped track.

Later he displayed a smaller installation work, called Why Not, the Violet Silk Petticoats (1996) which consisted of а yarn for the knitting.

In October 1996, the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia invited Veranian to the inaugural exhibition of the International Art Biennale of Tbilisi.

Known in art circles, Veranian was largely unknown by the public until he appeared on Armenian TV in 1997, after the XLVII Venice Biennale International Exhibition of Art.

In the Armenian Pavilion there Veranian exhibited his Untitled (model fresco) installation.

Veranian was the artistic director (1998 to 1999) of Printinfo and the artistic director (1999 to 2002) of the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (ACCEA).

Opus et setera (1998) consisted of the reconstructed model of a medieval merchant ship, traditional Lake Sevan sailing boats, and a bright neon installation drawing of the Wind Rose on the concrete floor.

In 1999 Veranian was the commissioner and curator of An Inter-Cultural Space project by the artist Narek Avetisian in the Armenian Pavilion at the XLVIII Venice Biennale International Exhibition of Art.

In 2002 Veranian and Badalian cofounded Yerevan Scope, a tourist handbook of Yerevan and Armenia.

Executed town was exhibited in ewz, Zurich-Unterwerk Selnau, Kultur und Eventhaus (2007).

Veranian has focused on painting over the past few years, starting with the painting series Arrow of Apollo (2008–2011), Bactrian princesses (2008–2012), Moisture of Light (2012–2013), Uneatable fox (2012–2013), Arctic Ocean Library (2009–2014) and Orchestral Satan (2014), Alpine Sniper (2014), Ink-Eraser (2012–2013), Live to Tell (2012–2013) and Adventuress (2011–2014).

His Zenon archive (2008–2011) was shown at the Antikyan Gallery in 2011.

The Windows of Mr.Arabian, Silk Mercers (2012–2014) are at the artist's studio.

Veranian is regarded as one of the most important representatives of a generation of Armenian artists who distanced themselves from Abstract Expressionism.

Art critic Alain Navarra-Navassartian wrote "If Stepan Veranian creates topography of the identity and interiority he does it by creating images of "places". The abstraction of its space is transformed into historical topography.”