YEREVAN — From October 1 to 9, artist Lilit Vardanyan’s first solo exhibition at the Pyunik Development Center offered a radiant meditation on color, landscape and the afterlife of memory.
A member of the Artists’ Union of Armenia, Vardanyan was born in Yerevan and has exhibited widely both at home and abroad. Her portfolio includes the 2024 charity exhibition, “Dreams Come True for Kids,” in Yerevan; a 2023 group show at Art Nou 277 Gallery in Barcelona; a 2021 solo exhibition in Zvartnots; and earlier group exhibitions at the Museum of Russian Art in Yerevan and in New Jersey, U.S.
The artist’s ancestral roots trace to Moush and Gavar. Her family moved first to Hrazdan, then to Yerevan, where Vardanyan began drawing in the fifth grade. She briefly pursued modeling before realizing that painting spoke to her more deeply. She went on to study at the Fine Arts Department of the Khachatur Abovian Armenian State Pedagogical University — an experience she describes as transformative.
Evening tale, oil on canvas with silver metal loaves 54x73cm, 2021 About Lilit Vardanyan
“The academic environment at university was fascinating,” Vardanyan told the Weekly. “We worked not only in painting but also in ceramics, sculpture, pottery, modeling. That multilayered experience helped me see more clearly which artistic path was mine.”
She credits those years, particularly the emphasis on plein air painting, for grounding her artistic vision. “We often worked outside, in nature. Those years shaped me profoundly as an artist.”
After graduation, Vardanyan ventured beyond the canvas — first into IT as a graphic designer, later into embroidery. “It was an interesting time,” she said, “but I always tried not to lose my connection to painting.” For a decade, she balanced embroidery work with annual plein air art camps. “In 2020,” she reflected, “life was redefined, and I made the final decision to leave everything else behind and fully dedicate myself to painting.”
That decade in embroidery — which included commissions for the Armenian Apostolic Church, miniature designs and hand-stitched curtains — refined her attention to texture and nuance. Those tactile instincts now surface on her canvases, where brushstroke and weave seem to share a single rhythm.
Embroidery work created for church curtains by Lilit Vardanyan
Her exhibition at Pyunik gathered works created between 2021 and 2025 — years of quiet experimentation and growing international visibility. “Over these years, I have sold pieces mainly through online platforms and have been in touch with several international galleries,” Vardanyan stated. “That visibility helps an artist connect with society.”
The emotional core of her work, however, remains rooted in nature. “My goal is to show the connection between nature and humans — to remind people of that link,” she explained.
“Contemporary art often leans toward conceptual thinking or philosophical abstraction, where aesthetics are almost absent. For me, the aesthetic breath of a painting still matters.”
Her palette revolves around two colors, blue and yellow, each carrying its own emotional register. “Blue is dramatic,” she noted. “Although it’s associated with sky and freedom, it can also become a shade of shadow. I almost never use black; instead, I achieve depth with Prussian blue or a very dark brown — nature brown.”
Two works anchor this sensibility. “Golden Autumn” (60×70 cm, 2023) renders trees illuminated from within, their golden leaves alive with rhythmic brushstrokes — a meditation on the vitality of life and the poetry of decay. In “Piece Of Yellow Sky” (80×90 cm, 2021, impasto), dark blue trees stretch toward a luminous yellow horizon, capturing the eternal dialogue between sky and earth.
Vardanyan often pairs her paintings with brief poetic reflections, transforming image and word into parallel meditations. “Acacia After Sunset” (70×100 cm, oil on canvas) is accompanied by a quiet poem:
As the red sky transitioned into hues of blue,
I indulged in my chocolate “After 9,”
Bearing witness to the sunset’s fading glow,
The acacia and I patiently awaited your arrival.
Reflecting on the work, the artist said: “I blended vibrant red-orange warm tones with the calming sky blue, employing an array of diverse brushstrokes to create this artwork.” Here, the sky, the acacia tree and the act of waiting all became part of a single suspended moment.
Acacia after sunset 70x100cm oil on canvas
For Vardanyan, color is language. “Yellow, for me, is the color of life and light, while blue is drama,” she added. “Very often, they merge into green, but recently, I have freed myself from that tone, allowing the dialogue between colors to emerge more clearly.”
Her canvases are also ecological meditations — acts of witness and warning. “Nature is alive in my works,” she said. “Trees and landscapes have their own emotions. Colors depend on light, feeling and the moment. It is essential that people feel part of nature and recognize its significance. Cutting down or burning trees without thinking of the future is unacceptable.”
Vardanyan’s current projects include plans for a portrait series depicting contemporary Armenian talents. Her landscapes, meanwhile, serve as a kind of visual diary — translating feelings of solitude, nostalgia and love that city life too easily forgets. “When I paint, I first imagine what will be conveyed through the canvas — the colors, the texture — but often, something unexpected emerges. That’s the true creative moment.”
Teaching, too, has become central to her practice. She now works with children up to ninth grade, guiding them to see art not merely as a skill but as a spiritual and intellectual tool. “I don’t want children just to paint well,” she said. “I want them to understand art — to see the connection between creation and the natural world.”
Reflecting on her dual role as an artist and teacher, Vardanyan said: “Through trees, nature and color, my art tries to preserve the connection we so often lose in our fast-paced lives.
Art is not only beauty — it’s a responsibility: to protect nature and pass it on to future generations.”
Her canvases, vibrant yet contemplative, remind viewers of a simple truth: nature is not background — it is breath. “I paint so that people remember: the tree is not just a tree, color is not just color and nature is not just a backdrop for our lives. We are its breath, yet we often forget to listen to it.”
Follow Lilit Vardanyan’s work on Instagram and explore her paintings on Artfinder, Saatchi Art and Singulart.
