– How does artist Hakob Hakobyan start each day off? What do you do? Do you worry about anything?
– When I wake up every morning, well, of course, first I go to the bathroom, wash up and have breakfast. Then I go to my studio, make some coffee and start thinking about what I am going to do. I paint. I have a lot of paintings; some done, some incomplete. Sometimes I come up with new ideas and without waiting to end the thing I was working on, I start the new one…I spend most part of the day in my studio and it is pleasant. It is spacious, illuminated. I don’t really like to go outside. I never get bored in my studio no matter how long I stay in there…
– In general, you don’t go out very often, you are never at social gatherings. Why so? Don’t you feel the need for communication? People usually consider artists as bohemian, with their half-dark and dirty studios. But your studio is fairly clean and illuminated…
– An illuminated studio is the most important thing for an artist. If the studio looks bad, then the given artist will prefer painting outside rather than in his studio. Yes, I don’t have much contact with people. Perhaps it has to do with my age because, after all, I am 83 years old. In general, nowadays all people seem to talk about are the hardships they are going through, that is the only thing on their minds. Perhaps that is the reason why I don’t want to have too much contact. I have friends who visit me often. If there are any concerts or exhibitions, I go. I am not totally cut off from the outside world. Why should I? But I don’t have a lot of free time to go and spend time with the people outside. I don’t have social anxiety, but I think it is just the aging factor. It is better to just be out in the nature, rather than in the city…
– Is the city unpleasant?
– It’s displeasing…
– It’s interesting to know what you think about modern day Yerevan.
– Yes, that is a very interesting question and everyone is talking about that nowadays. Although the Armenian people faced many hardships throughout the 20th century (Genocide, wars, etc), however, it is amazing to see how many intellectuals we have, including writers, artists, musicians… They were incredible people and the majority of them died too soon or got killed, or were sentenced…The leading figures remain Charents, Komitas, Saryan…Among all of them, I can only separate one who has been an extraordinary individual in the past century, the most important of all-Alexander Tamanyan. I am not saying that books and art are not important, but Tamanyan gave us a city, which we can be proud of and say that that was our declaration of rebirth, showing that we are still united as one, we exist and deserve to live. This was all connected to him, his work and personality. Imagine: that man was half-Russian when he came to the Homeland. Tamanyan was an architect who, although was born and raised in Russia and could have stayed there, but he came to Armenia as an angel from above and suddenly became an Armenian architect. That was simply incredible. He was an Armenian phenomenon. He created a new form of Armenian architecture because, after all, we hadn’t had architecture ever since the city of Ani was built. So, let’s put aside all the other forms of art, and place emphasis on him because he was the one who gave us a city to live in. It would be nice to see New Armenia, especially the newly independent Armenia to start out living in a city like that. But unfortunately, many Armenian intellectuals were sad that they couldn’t complete their work and left the Homeland. Tamanyan’s work also remained incomplete. His masterpiece remains the city plan of Yerevan. Tamanyan did a lot during those 13 years, yet his most significant work of art was the Government building, which remained incomplete, as well as the newly structured Republic Square (not his plan), the Northern Avenue, which was supposed to connect to the Opera House. The Opera House wasn’t completely constructed either. Tamanyan actually received a gold medal in 1937 in Paris for his plan of the Opera House. Winning that medal was a big thing for a country like Armenia, it was incredible. This man’s work was supposed to show the image of Yerevan; unfortunately, the city is falling apart nowadays. The Government building remains standing, but there is a plan for a tower in the yard, which hasn’t been constructed yet; the Northern Avenue construction is not finished and it already looks like something else-it shouldn’t even be named “Northern Avenue”. What else…many buildings are being destructed for no reason at all. The oval shaped park was supposed to be like a greenery scene in the city and now that doesn’t exist either. Unfortunately, our people sometimes create national values but then either they don’t value them or destroy them. I think that this is the most dangerous thing for our people because although we are few in number, however, we are able to create a spiritual life, create values, which give us the opportunity to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the nations. We don’t have many resources to enrich our country, but we do have a great and precious culture, but alas, that culture is going through genocide. True, the country is facing some hard times now, there are many issues-lack of jobs, emigration (that is just our blood flowing), there are many other issues and it is impossible to talk about all of them at once. I just do my job and think about what I just said when I have free time.
– Do you portray your thoughts and feelings in your paintings?
– Not really. They can be portrayed indirectly. After all, an artist describes himself and gives a biography through art.
– You are part of the group of compatriots who returned to the Homeland back in the 60s. Do you see any similarities or differences in art back then and now?
– You know, the first thing that interests an artist is the fact that he can create. He is responsible for anything that he puts his mind to. He has decided to become an artist, that is his wish, but the people may not like his art. They say “the artist keeps the people alive”; this means that if the country is prosperous and if people have a lot of money, they start thinking about purchasing books, paintings, going to concerts. The Soviet regime was structured in a way that it needed artists; the Soviets would use the artist’s knowledge for their propaganda. They had made it so the artist would be forced to help spread the propaganda and do what the regime said. The artist was subconsciously pulled back from doing what he wanted to do. But it wasn’t a shame to be physically considered an artist, it wasn’t humiliating. Artists with a higher education were able to earn a living with those orders. Living abroad means taking care of yourself; if you can earn a living by painting-good. But if you can’t, then you have to find another job to take care of your expenses. You can spend time painting when you have free time. I have lived like that until I was 40 years old. I have been forced to do something else so that I could take care of myself and my family. But I was in a foreign country and, of course, my main goal was to live in my Homeland. No matter what the regime was, I knew that I was in my Homeland, I was with my people and that helped me feel secure. During the Soviet regime, many artists were disrespected. I was treated well, I mean, they didn’t bother me or ask me why I did this or that. During all these years, there was only one thing on my mind: I could paint and paint whatever I wanted to. Nothing else matters to me.
– Many artists emigrated during the past couple of years. Was the social/economic status the only thing that made them leave the Homeland?
– For artists, I can say that besides the fact that the country is in a social/economic crisis and people are busy trying to find jobs to make a living, artists would want to see what’s going on in the world. They would like to see Paris, other countries and have contact with other artists. Besides that, they hoped that their art would be appreciated by other people and they could sell their products.
– After settling down in Soviet Armenia, how did you deal with the lack of outside information and the fact that you couldn’t travel around the world? Didn’t that affect your work?
– I had already had the privilege of seeing all that. I had lived in Paris for two years, I had been in Italy. So, I didn’t really feel the need of seeing all that again. I needed to be able to paint in Armenia, in Soviet Armenia. That was all I cared about.
– Did you have the slightest idea of what kind of country that was?
– Nobody could imagine.
– Haven’t you ever regretted coming here…?
– No. As I said, I was welcomed here and I was doing what I love. Sure, I did feel bad that my colleagues faced some difficulties while they were here. Instead of welcoming those artists and cherish their art, the people were offending them. That hurt me a lot. People, consciously or subconsciously, were afraid and they didn’t even realize that the individual has to express himself. That is the most important thing in art. The artist has to be free from all sufferings in order to be able to express his thoughts, ideas and feelings and communicate with others. They didn’t know that because that was the way they were raised. But this was my country. There was no other Homeland.
– Isn’t the contemporary artist constrained?
– I don’t know such an artist. I think that if artists feel less constrained, then nobody can stop them from doing what they do.
– Is it possible to solve any issue today or settle any international and interstate conflicts through art?
– It is rare to find that kind of topic portrayed through art. If the Azerbaijani listens to Armenian music and is sensitive towards the music, then he or she can respect the Armenian people more. But when I see how the cultural monuments in Jugha are destroyed in a matter of days, I start to think about taking back what I just said because I don’t see how the Azerbaijani actually took the risk of destroying those beautiful monuments…
– What do think-when will this phase in history end and how will it end?
– I am part of the people and would also like to know. I can’t think of any project. You know, whenever you criticize something, you have to find the solution to it. Of course, the authorities, whoever they may be, are the ones responsible for the situation we are in due to the fact that, after all, they are the ones steering the country and they have to find a solution to every problem.