Varouján Hovakimyan

Varoujan Hovakimyan is an Armenian American abstract painter based in Los Angeles. His work investigates how structural coherence emerges through calibrated perception. Approaching painting as discovery rather than invention, Hovakimyan treats the canvas as a field in which form is not fixed in advance, but gradually stabilizes through sustained attention to balance, tension, and rhythm. Through disciplined reduction of interference, his compositions resolve into a state of visual inevitability.

Born in 1978 in Yerevan, Armenia, Hovakimyan’s formative years unfolded across political and cultural transition, an experience that continues to inform his sensitivity to instability, adjustment, and emerging structure. From 1994 to 1999 he studied Graphic Arts at the State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia, focusing on drawing, painting, illustration, and printmaking. His early training was complemented by years of musical study, an influence that continues to inform the tonal and structural sensibility of his work. In 1999 he relocated to Los Angeles, where he has since developed a sustained studio practice.

Hovakimyan has presented numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States and internationally. In 2024 he was awarded the D...

State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia (SAFAA) - MFA

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010 Shoghart Gallery, Burbank, CA

2009 Los Angeles City Hall, Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, Los Angeles, CA

2005 Harvest Gallery, Glendale, CA

2001 Alex Manougian Cultural Center, Pasadena, CA

1996 Komitas Chamber Music House, Yerevan, Armenia

ART FAIRS

2025 San Francisco Art Fair, Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, San Francisco, CA

2021 The Other Art Fair Los Angeles, The Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, CA

2019 The Other Art Fair Los Angeles, The Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2026 Group Exhibition, Galerie Diderot, Château d’Orquevaux, Orquevaux, France

2024 Apophenia, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2024 Edition of Spectrum Gestalt, BG Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2023 PSB Art Show, Pershing Square Building Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2022 37th Annual All Media Juried Art Exhibition, Lancaster Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA

2022 Centered On The Center, Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA

2021 Los Angeles Art Association’s Open Show, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA

2021 The really, really good abstract show, ShockBoxx Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA

2019 The 2nd International Print Biennale, HayAr...