ARTS AROUND BOSTON MAGAZINE
Artist Portrait
Judy Buswick
Daniel Varoujan Hejinian was working on a Ph.D. in art at the Institute of Fine Arts of Yerevan in Soviet Armenia, but his artistic freedom was restricted. When he left Russia in 1979 to pursue his art career unbounded in Boston, he was forced to leave all his paintings and works in progress to the funding government agencies.
He was pleased to participate with the Gorbachev Foundation of North America located at Northeastern University to honor Mikhail Gorbachev for "his contributions to our century and to our future." This year, the Foundation's Associate Director Kathleen Campanella invited Varoujan to exhibit his highly individualistic paintings at the dinner reception in the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel. She thus provided the opportunity for the artist to meet the world leader. After introducing himself as an Armenian American who had studied art in Syria and Russia, Varoujan expressed his congratulations to Gorbachev for opening the Soviet Union to democracy. In the course of the conversation, facilitated by an interpreter, Varoujan mentioned his dream of creating a globe traveling art exhibit on world issues to welcome the new millennium. His paintings would address central concerns of humanity and problem solving on the global level to make a better world in the 21st century.
On a smaller scale Varoujan has experienced the power of art working for social change. He was the catalyst for Colors in the Sky exhibits at the Prudential Center Skywalk. The first year, this Wang Center for the Performing Arts fund raiser benefited youth arts programs; and the second year proceeds went to Young at Arts, the Bob and Anne Woolf Charitable Foundation, and Stop Handgun Violence. Varoujan has also contributed paintings for art shows that have supported the Red Cross, Friendship Without Borders, the Armenian Children's Milk Founda-tion, The Fund for Armenian Children's Education, 1992 hurricane victims in Florida, the Christopher Iannella Scholarship Fund, and Race for the Cure for Breast Cancer Research.
An international artist who addresses the human condition, Varoujan captures emotions and moods in his paintings. His figurative subjects with abstract backgrounds are rich with vivid colors and sharp contrasts. He uses acrylic, oil, charcoal, pastel and pencil, as well as embossed metal for texture, and is able to create works which are half dream an half reality.
I use everything I can to get my point across," he says. Dyansen Gallery at the Trump Tower in New York City and locally at 132 Newbury Street show his work. Susan Lanoue, the Gallery Director in Boston, refers to the artist as Daniel and says his "paintings were so well received and popular with Boston collectors" that he expanded to New York and beyond Classically trained and naturally artistic, Varoujan has a wide body of work available for public viewing. Sometimes the separate circles of viewers do not know about his other creations. He has carved artistic niches for himself beyond art galleries.
Arriving in Massachusetts with only his determination and artistic talent, Varoujan took menial, low-paying jobs as he learned English, his fifth language. He worked his way up through ten years as a journeyman billboard painter to pictorial artist for Akerley, the outdoor advertising giant. He is presently Art Director for Clear Channel .
Through AK Media, he has been involved with several highly visible art commissions and fund raisers. Joe Tecce's Restaurant in Boston's North End displays the Gallery of Grand Bostonians with 125 portraits, sketched by Varoujan, of citizens who have made an impact on Boston. His painting of the landmarks of Venice and the bounty of Italy brought to Boston covers four stories on Causeway Street at the gateway to the North End. Inside Filippo's Restaurant he painted a 6' x 20' mural in a realistic Renaissance style celebrating the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage to the Americas.
Relying on his classical training, Varoujan also creates religious works of art. His first major commission was for forty-six murals at St. Vartanantz Church in Chelmsford, the town he and his wife Gayane, daughter Betty, and son Armen have called home for over 10 years. Keeping with the Byzantine mural tradition of Armenia, Varoujan used vivid colors and iconography, but he introduced real-life features in portrait style for the religious figures. This work draws visitors from across the country and has led to other church commissions in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Wisconsin.
His newest and most evocative religious commission is a 17' x 21' depiction of a crucified Christ appearing as an arisen savior over a traditional last supper scene. Armen posed for the disciple figures and for additional photographs of hands and feet. With three large canvasses draped up the wall and onto his studio ceiling, this project for the Holy Cross Church in Belmont, Massachusetts, has taken Varoujan several months to complete. He likened the creation of this mural to the birth of a child. The attention to detail "was painful. But when it's done it looks so easy."
Varoujan continually strives for excellence in his fine art painting, his design work for AK Media, and his religious art. "What made this country great is individual creations. I think individuals have to try to do something great for their country," paraphrases Varoujan. He brings his ethnic background and art training to his belief in the American ideal of giving back to your community. When he praised Gorbachev for bringing democracy to the former Soviet Union, Varoujan was speaking from the heart. His dream of a global art show in the year 2000 is merely a concept today. But, Susan Lanoue has pointed out that Varoujan "has a way of making things happen.
