Citizens of Yerevan love to see the statues of horses, the bull, and the rhinoceros standing in front of the “Moscow” movie theatre. Ara Alekyan’s statues are not thematic monuments on pedestals; they are statues that decorate the streets and theme parks of the city. They create both a happy mood and add something to the squares and buildings.
“Statues are in a direct tie with people. I am always pleased to see children walking to the statue, touching it and wanting to, for example, sit on the bull or the horse,” says the sculptor.
Although he has sculpted statues of human beings too (“The king and the queen”, for example, located in Moscow), however he is well-known for his statues of animals and insects.
“I mainly sculpt four-legged creatures,” he says.
The fish, scorpion, seashell and fly statues sculpted by A. Alekyan haven’t been installed in the city yet and are only shown in museums. As a matter of fact, some of his metal sculptures of animals are going to leave Yerevan. The number of sculptures in front of the “Moscow” movie theatre is going down. The rhino statue has already been purchased and will be transferred to Belgium. The bull has already been purchased. The buyers are mainly foreigners.
Recently, the sculptor exhibited his new creation at the “Gevorgyan” exhibition hall. It is a bust of Sergey Parajanov, which is made of metal just like his other creations. All of Alekyan’s creations are from metal and he collects it from unnecessary items. He combines them and structures them.
“I only work with the material, which was considered useless in Armenia and has been later discovered in Iran,” he says.
The style of the Parajanov statue is familiar to Parajanov, who is well-known for his symbolic collages made of different materials.
“I have tried to create the statue of Parajanov through different symbols. You can look at the head as a film library. I have sculpted the pedestal of the statue with three legs,” says the sculptor.
The clock is at the bottom part of the statue, while there is a handle for the camera sticking out of Parajanov’s metal temple. The camera can be turned around and create an illusion of watching a film. A. Alekyan sees his Parajanov from the inside.
“The statue is not for an open-air exhibition because it is more of a chamber work of art.”
If nobody buys the statue from the “Gevorgyan” exhibition hall, it will be transferred to the Sergey Parajanov house/museum. Ara Alekyan is waiting for buyers because he doesn’t consider his work complete-there are still some finishing touches, he plans on turning some parts of Parajanov’s face into bronze.
Besides adding the finishing touches to Parajanov’s statue, Ara Alekyan has other creative and interesting ideas. He wants to sculpt a car. He wants to install a huge metal mosquito or a spider tying its web on the wall of a building.
”Can you imagine a spider coming down from the roof of a building with one of his eight legs on one of the balconies and the other on the window? There will also be some parts of the spider web. But I’m still thinking about this.”
Nobody in the city has offered to purchase Ara Alekyan’s sculptures. Although there is one Armenian businessman who has wished to purchase one of the sculptures and even provide some space for installing it.
“I got a very pleasant and surprising offer and I am going to sculpt the second rhino soon, which will be installed in a secure place in Yerevan,” says A. Alekyan, whose semi-real and semi-fantastic metal statues may add a little spice to the monotype construction in the city. At least the statues of people touring, the huge flies and spiders will look nice, for example, on the glass, cemented buildings of the Northern Avenue in Yerevan or nearby. The high-story cemented buildings with the metal statues of the animals may look beautiful.