Vahan Roumelian, born in 1963 in Yerevan, Armenia, where he continues to live and work, emerged in the late Soviet era as a pivotal figure within Armenia’s avant-garde movement. A graduate of the Panos Terlemezian Fine Arts College (1986) and the Fine Arts Institute in Yerevan (1987), his early artistic practice intertwined with the dissident energy of The Third Floor, an underground collective that challenged and redefined the boundaries of post-Soviet artistic expression.
In 1988, Roumelian undertook a formative residency in Paris, where his exposure to Western abstraction sparked a lifelong engagement with gestural and material experimentation. This cross-cultural dialogue expanded through research visits to the UK and France in 1991 and deepened further during a decade-long residency in Moscow from 1997 to 2006.
Working across painting and mixed media, Roumelian’s art explores the tension between structure and spontaneity. His compositions draw deeply from the iconography of memory, erosion, and spiritual resonance, marked by raw textures, emotive mark-making, and a relentless inquiry into abstraction’s philosophical dimensions. Since the late 1980s, Roumelian has exhibited internationally, with institutional and gallery presentations including the Salon des Indépendants at the Grand Palais, Paris (1989); Bochum Museum, Germany (1995); Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome (2008); and the Modern Art Museum, Yerevan (2010). He has participated in notable biennials, such as the First International Biennial in Gyumri (1998), and has presented solo projects with Arame Art Gallery in both Beirut and Yerevan. His works have been featured at major international art fairs, including the Beirut Art Fair (2017, 2018) and WCAF Las Vegas (2004).
Roumelian’s works are held in private collections across Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas — a testament to his enduring impact on contemporary abstraction and his unique voice within the global art landscape.
Selected Exhibitions:
2020 Spring Salon 2020, Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
2019 Contemporary Armenian Fine Art, Kuwait
2018 Beirut Art Fair, Beirut, Lebanon
2018 Reality of Bliss, 15th Anniversary of Arame Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2017 Beirut Art Fair, Beirut, Lebanon
2017 The Harmony of Chaos, Arame Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2016 Enchanted Reality, Beirut, Lebanon
2016 Art Beyond Time (book presentation), Yerevan, Armenia
2015 Inner Lighthouse, Beirut, Lebanon
2014 Beauty in the Palm, Beirut, Lebanon
2014 Selected Artworks, Vienna, Austria
2013 Sensual Revelations, Beirut, Lebanon
2013 Selected Artworks, Beirut, Lebanon
2013 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Arame Art Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2012 Symphony of Colors, Beirut, Lebanon
2012 Grand Opening Exhibition, New Art Center, Arame Art Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2010 New Masterpieces, Arame Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2010 Modern Art Museum, Yerevan, Armenia
2010 Artists’ Union of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
2009 International ArtExpo, China
2008 Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome, Italy
2007 Orangerie du Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris, France
2007 Anticlassical, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2007 International ArtExpo, New York, USA
2006 International ArtExpo, New York, USA
2005 Galleria d’Arte Rinascimento, Florence, Italy
2004 WCAF Show, Hilton Convention Center, Las Vegas, USA
2004 A Way to New Abstractionism, Gallery Exhibition, Moscow, Russia
2001 EURO’ART V, Salon International d’Artistes Contemporains, Barcelona, Spain
1999 Artuel, Salon International d’Art Contemporain, Beirut, Lebanon
1998 Caribe Galerie de Arte, São Paulo, Brazil
1998 First International Biennial, Gyumri, Armenia
1996 Group Exhibition, Moscow, Russia
1995 Bochum Museum, Bochum, Germany
1994 Abstractionism, Artists’ Union, Yerevan, Armenia
1991 Galerie Les Cents, Paris, France
1989 Happenings, Banevijis, Lithuania (Baltic States)
1989 International Exhibition, Moscow, Russia
1989 Salon des Indépendants, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Sunny Day
Opus #20
