AGENDA

Zalfa Halabi Art Gallery is pleased to kick off the summer season with the solo exhibition “A Roomful of People” by Janet Hakopian. The show will open on Thursday, May 30th, 2024, and will feature a selection of paintings and sculptures from the artist’s collection. Janet’s work has been showcased in solo exhibitions since 1995, numerous collective exhibitions worldwide, and several auctions. Her latest exhibition will run for three months until August 31st at the gallery, inviting visitors not only to view the works but also to create their own stories by piecing together the various figures and elements.

Janet Hakopian, born into an Armenian family in Iran, moved to Armenia after high school and earned an MA in decorative applied art from the Yerevan State Institute of Fine Arts and Theatre. She held her first exhibition, “Cosmic Kingdom,” in Tehran. Upon moving to Lebanon, she worked as a jewelry designer for international companies and served as the Director of Toros Roslin Art Academy at the Hamazkayin Center until 2011. In 2015, she began teaching drawing at the Lebanese American University. Throughout her career, Janet has participated in collective and solo exhibitions in Lebanon, Armenia, Iran, Dubai, London, and America. Her works have also been auctioned at the "LIKE" auction at Emergeast gallery in Dubai and the international auction house Bonham.

As an artist, Janet Hakopian draws inspiration from her experience of being caught between three distinct yet similar cultures. Each piece offers a glimpse into the social and religious realities that shaped her identity and the identities of women living in the Middle East, with all its challenges and wonders. Her compositions are layered and convey the concept of the painting or sculpture. Hakopian's imagination explores shape variations to communicate a strong composition. These shapes may be challenging but allow viewers to observe without feeling restricted or constrained.

Janet’s relationship with her work is deeply personal, especially with her sculptures based on the characters in her paintings. She begins her day by greeting the figures in her studio and sharing her thoughts with them. However, the conversation has always been one-sided, so she created sculptures based on these figures to engage with them differently. This transformation provides the “people” in her paintings with a new dimension to inhabit. It mirrors how we identify our reality within an evolving society; Janet’s figures struggle with new worlds and attempt to digest new truths. Each character has its own narrative, but Janet explains that alone they are incomplete, seeking each other like pieces of a puzzle to bring new life into her studio.