Vagarshag in his studio
Vagarshag Elibekian is a primitive, and like all primitive artists, he is careful about details. Born in Georgia, he has reproduced his memories of Tbilisi, painting light-hearted scenes of daily events and rejoicings in bright colors and exacting outline, representing cheerful scenes and happenings with all the colors of the spectrum. His images bring the cities and streets alive, with animals and humans in their costumes.
The life of the "guidos" in Tbilisi reflects their happy-go-lucky character; their main purpose in life was have a life of ease and fun, enjoyment and amusement. These scenes are always populated by people in traditional attire, usually very colorful, and the settings are meticulously reproduced in all the details. Every painting is a complete episode and collectively, we can have a clear insight of the life in Tbilisi at a certain time. Hardly bigger than a commemorative postage stamp sheet, these images are large in concept, capturing the fleeting poetic moments that punctuate the event and are the most elegant distillations of a certain rural and urban experience.
Dr. Garabed Belian,
Art critic,
Detroit, Michigan
Céline Le Merlus
"Elibekian: one name, three generations"
Pages: 60
Publisher: Musée des maîtres et artisans du Québec (2008)
Language: French
ISBN: 978-2-920237-27-8
Dimensions: 21.5 x 21.5 cm.
"Elibekians"
Pages: 44
Publisher: Artists’ Union of the USSR (1989)
Language: Russian
ISBN: 5-269-00333-3
Dimensions: 27.5 x 20.5 cm.
"Vagarshag Elibekian"
Pages: 160
Publisher: Arts visuels (1991)
Language: Russian
ISBN: 585200-263-3
Dimensions: 21.5 x 18 cm.
"Vagarshag Elibekian"
Pages: 12
Publisher: Société théâtrale arménienne (1980)
Language: Armenian, Russian
Dimensions: 22 x 16 cm.
After the feast, 1988
Tempera on canvas, 17 x 24 cm
The winter, 1975
Tempera on canvas, 25 x 35 cm
Winter landscape, 1989
Tempera on canvas, 26 x 35 cm
The donkeys, 1979
Tempera on canvas, 19 x 22 cm
Tavern in Tbilisi, 1984
Tempera on canvas, 30 x 36 cm
Street in Tbilisi, 1989
Tempera on canvas, 25 x 30 cm
Winter sleigh, 1982
Tempera on canvas, 34 x 25 cm
Street in the old Tbilisi, 1989
Tempera on canvas, 24 x 18 cm
My neighbourhood, 1982
Tempera on canvas, 30 x 24 cm
Carnival in Tbilisi, 1986
Tempera on canvas, 20 x 30 cm
Carnival in Tbilisi, 1982
Tempera on canvas, 15 x 21 cm
Feast in Tbilisi (Tbilisoba), 1990
Tempera on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
The donkeys, 1983
Tempera on canvas, 16 x 20 cm
Courtyard, 1988
Tempera on canvas, 23 x 30 cm
Wedding celebration, 1988
Tempera on canvas, 23 x 29 cm
Armenian family, 1987
Tempera on canvas, 16 x 15 cm
Feast on the Kura river, 1984
Tempera on canvas, 28 x 32 cm
Winter evening, 1983
Tempera on canvas, 24 x 30 cm
The clown, 1986
Tempera on canvas, 19 x 15 cm
Cock fight, 1980
Tempera on canvas, 20 x 24 cm
Tavern in Tbilisi, 1985
Tempera on canvas, 21 x 17 cm