Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Fr Zacharia & the Parish Council of St. Apkar Armenian Apostolic Church
invite you to a lecture and book signing by 
Levon Parian
editor of
Crows of the Desert
Come and meet this talented writer/ editor and artist on 
Sunday,
November 18, 2012 at 1 PM.
Armenian Church Cultural Center - 
Melikian Hall at 8849 E Cholla St. 
Scottsdale, AZ 85260

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Crows of the Desert
Lecture and Book Signing

GLENDALE, CA Levon Parian, the editor of Crows of the Desert, will speak about his book on Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 7pm at the Glendale Central Library Auditorium, 222 East Harvard Street. The lecture is in English. Admission is free; seating is limited. Library visitors receive 3 hours FREE parking across the street at The Market Place parking structure with validation at the Loan Desk.
Crows of the Desert details the memories of Levon Yotnakhparian. It is illustrated with photos, maps and documents from the British and Arab High Command. In 1909, Levon Yotnakhparian joined the Ottoman military and eventually found himself in the middle of the genocide against his people. This is his story of escape through the desert and subsequent return to Der Zor on a quest to save thousands of other stranded and orphaned Armenians. If you have read the story of Lawrence of Arabia, you will appreciate this memoir as he travels through the same deserts to Al Aqaba.
Levon Parian is the grandson of Levon Yotnakhparian. “It really was a family affair,” says Parian, “ my mother did the translation, I did the editing and layout, my wife made the maps, my aunts and cousins supplied pictures and documents, and my father did the prodding.” It was Parian’s father who inspired him to publish the book. Parian is currently working on a number of books. These include one with The Genocide Project that involves portraits and oral histories of survivors of the Armenian Genocide. Lost Memories, is his other book about flood damaged images from his childhood. Scopophilia is a 3-D series about the Male Gaze, and also a book of his mother's memoirs The Girl from Jerusalem. Parian is an acclaimed photographer whose works have been exhibited throughout the world and are in the collections of the, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Library of Congress, Paradjanov Museum, Museum of Photography in Paris, Southern Illinois University Museum and The Downey Museum of Art in Downey.
The program is sponsored by the Library, Arts & Culture Department and the Friends of the Glendale Public Library.
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Contact: Elizabeth Grigorian at egrigorian@ci.glendale.ca.us or call 818-548-3288.
222 East Harvard Street
Glendale, CA 91205
www.glendalepubliclibrary.org

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Takui Akopyan's exhibition and sale

"Yosemite," 2007 full image above and detail here, notice how the type in the paper adds to the feeling of the water.

      Takuk the painter is also Takui Akopyan the renowned actress with over 65 years of stage, television and film experience. Holder of the “Vastagavor” title, the highest rank for an artist in the Soviet Union, she has traveled worldwide performing at prestigious venues. Takui was in her late teens when the family moved from Greece to Armenia. She wanted to study art, but her talent on stage took her on a different path leading her to acting school and culminating in a successful theatrical career.  Even then she always had a sketchpad and drew portraits of her fellow performers.
     “As a child all I wanted to do was paint in bright and vivid colors” she says, “but this was during WWII.” Needless to say times were tough then and color was a luxury. On every occasion Takui drew as soon as she would find some paper and a pencil. Later, she would close her eyes and imagine all the colors she wanted to see in those black and white pencil drawings.
     Some 20 years ago as she was flipping through a magazine she noticed, once again, the beautiful colors throughout the pages. “It came to me just like that!” She says, as she snaps her fingers to indicate the speed of her thought. “Why let these great colors go to waste? Why not re-use them to create something even greater?” She started working on a little collage, cutting small pieces of different colored papers from magazines and pasting them on a picture to create flowers, then mountains, then a river, as a gift to a friend. Slowly the original picture was covered with tiny colorful cut-outs transforming it into an entirely different image. This was the birth of her new passion. For a person with such diverse talents, singing, acting and writing poetry, a new layer of creativity was uncovered and once again she found her muse. “I could see all the colors that had danced in my imagination for years come together when I created this collage on a piece of recycled cardboard,” she explained. “I couldn’t work fast enough to pour out all that was inside of me onto my newly discovered medium," she said, as her eyes widened and sparkled with excitement. She had discovered a new love in her life: recycling colors.
     In her apartment, Takuk finds herself surrounded with countless images she has created over the past years. Her works range from beautiful flowers, to interesting and expressive characters, magical landscapes; so much color created from her imagination, memories, experiences and emotions. Working countless hours, spending many a sleepless night, cutting and pasting, she is always improving the process through trial and error. Every piece is created solely from recycled materials. Through patience and thousands of colorful bits of paper ranging from tissue paper to magazine pages, she creates a palette with depth and texture. Her ability to capture the
psychological qualities of light and shadow, and transpose them to her work, is remarkable. After months of pasting these pieces in just the right places, a unique work of art is born. One must look up close to realize that these are no ordinary acrylic, watercolor or oil paintings, but simply paper given a new life as something greater.
     This is the first exhibit of her work and will only be for one day,  at the Notte Luna Restaurant 113 N. Maryland Ave, Glendale,  on Sunday August 26th from 4-10 PM.
     Wine reception from 4-5 and silent auction begins at 5. She will also be showing how she makes these amazing images from 4-5. Admission is free.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Scopophilia Book

Photo: Scopophilia: looking through the male gaze in 3-D
by: Levon Parian

1st edition Scopophilia books 4 left (out of 50) at $35 + shipping.
includes Loreo Lid 3D viewer
5"x7" 20 pages plus cover.
This is a catalogue from my MFA 3D exhibit with the same title:
Scopophilia: looking through the male gaze in 3D
Payment with Paypal

e-mail to:
levon.parian.384@csun.edu


Wednesday, July 4, 2012

ABRIL BOOKSTORE PRESENTATION


Abril bookstore will host a presentation of
Crows Of The Desert on July 24th at 8:00pm.
Levon Parian the grandson and editor of the book will give the presentation.
For more infromation on the event contact: Arno Yeretzian at Abril Bookstore,
 415 E. Broadway #102, Glendale, CA 91205
 (818) 243-4112
 www.abrilbooks.com

The event went well. Arno says that there were around 70 people.
We sold quite a few books, and there are plenty available. Just contact him and ask.

  

Monday, April 23, 2012

Crows of the Desert


photo: Crows of the Desert/ These are the memories of Levon Yotnakhparian as he joins the Ottoman military and finds himself in the middle of a genocide against his people. This is his story of escape through the desert and subsequent return on a quest to save thousands of other stranded and orphaned Armenians. Illustrated with photos, maps, and documents from the British and Arab High Command, the story reads like a true adventure. If you have read the story of Lawrence of Arabia, you will appreciate this memoir as Levon Yotnakhparian travels the same deserts to Al Aqaba and returns back to Der Zor to find and rescue thousands of stranded Armenians, the aftermath of the first genocide of the 20th century perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks. Translated from the Armenian by: Victoria Parian Edited by: Levon Parian  Introduction by: Benjamin Parian (Yotnakhparian) Published by: Parian Photographic Design 9175 Tujunga Canyon Blvd. Tujunga, California 91042, USA (c) 2012 lparian7@gmail.com Currantly available at: Abril Book Store, 415 E Broadway # 102 Glendale, CA 91205 (818) 243-4112 www.abrilbooks.com/ photo: Crows of the Desert

Saturday, April 21, 2012

photo: extremely loud and incredibly similar/ Armenian Genocide billboard was posted in 8 locations in Hollywood one year before the movie came out. The agency that designed the advertising for the movie is in Hollywood. The similarity of the placement of the hands combined with the awkwardness of the boys hands reveals a duplication rather than an original and natural approach.
The Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close image was no doubt influenced by the Armenian Genocide billboard at the least and at the worst was a direct attempted copy.

photo: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close billboard comparison