Sonia Balassanian

Sonia Balassanian is known for her multidisciplinary, politically charged practice that spans across all media, from painting to sculpture, video and installation. Through her practice she relates intimate images to broader social and cultural issues including gender identity and relations, the aftermath of war, and the role of the individual. At the heart of her corpus are colourful, large-scale, lyrically abstract paintings that she began in the 1960s. In the 1980s, after she had moved to New York, her work took a political turn following the Iranian revolution (1978 -1979). Balassanian drew newfound attention for Hostages: A Diary (1980), an installation of drawings that mapped the experience following the Iran hostage crisis from the United States, and for Cauterized Literature (1987), a mixed-media series of burnt books mounted on canvas that commented on censorship in Iran.

At the end of the 1970s the Iranian revolution became one of the most prominent themes in her work - a subject that she addresses through her unique artistic lens to shed light on its ongoing impact on the Iranian people, their diaspora as well as her own story. Her artistic tone changed radically, as she began to produce some of her most recognisable work - shades of blues inspired by the Iranian sky, scribbles on canvas linking to her poetry writings, and layered collage. Her works often incorporate fragments of personal and collective memories interwoven with historical and cultural references. More recently she has turned to abstraction of textures and masonry-works of olden structures, semi-visible obscured arabesques and architectural forms. 

Sonia Balassanian lives and works in New York and Armenia. She holds a BFA from the joint program of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Pennsylvania (1970), as well as an MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York (1978). She is also an alumnus of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. Her numerous works have been exhibited internationally in selected solo exhibitions at AB-ANBAR, London, UK (2022); The Armenian Pavilion, 52nd Art Biennale of Venice, Venice, Italy (2007); Armenian Center for Contemporary Art, Yerevan, Armenia (2004); Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston- Salem, US (1993); The Sculpture Center, New York, US (1992). Selected group exhibitions include AB-ANBAR, London, UK (2023); AB-ANBAR, London, UK (2021); Griffin Art Projects, Vancouver, Canada (2018); Asia Society Museum, New York, US (2013); Saatchi Gallery, London, UK (2009); Barbican Center, London, UK (2001); MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York, US (1988); Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran, Iran (1977); MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York, US (1966).