The story of an Egyptian-Armenian artist

Vahan Telpian is a mystic artist who practices painting, sculpting, and decorative design. Born in 1963 to an Egyptian Armenian family, inheriting the Armenian artistic genes, and growing up in multicultural Cairo, he is an art lover. Inspired by his father's passion for photography, it was his first step towards his unique path in the world of art.

At 17, he started to draw in the “Le Progrès Egyptien” daily newspaper as a weekly painter, and that was the starting buzzer, mentored by great Egyptian artists such as Ahmed Fouad Selim. He studied art academically in the Faculty of Art Pedagogy (Helwan University) and graduated with honours in the year 1988–1989.

He believes that art is not a stiff structure, that you can isolate one part from its whole, but rather a completely connected coherence existence that we are part of that formed his personality as a well-known painter and sculptor whose art pieces won various prizes and were acquired by top collectors such as Mohammed Hassnin Heikal and Naguib Sawiris. His paintings and sculptures were presold.

The starting point

As a pioneer in introducing artificial rock installations, he designed, constructed, and decorated, as early as 1997, the artificial rock mountain and fountains of “Dream Land”, which was his first step to conquering the design and implementation of the landscape, interior, exterior, lighting units, and decoration world.

Additionally, he participated in several group exhibitions with his paintings and sculptures and received several prizes, including:

The International Symposium on Sculpture

Telpian participated twice in the Aswan International Sculpture Symposium, which extended over two months during the 1998 and 1999 rounds. It is a festival held annually in Egypt on the hill overlooking the legends of the Nile Basin, connected to the “Nubian Museum”, famous for its amazing Pharaonic sculptural treasures. The enchanting geology and mythology They spread giant straw umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun and proceeded with their creations connected to the traditions of pharaonic sculpture and the achievements of the sculptors of ancient Egypt who left unfinished obelisks, monuments, and statues.

Music that addresses the conscience 2019

Telpian participated in the first scrap iron forum in Marsa Matrouh, which was implemented by the General Authority for Cultural Palaces at the Matrouh Culture Palace in November 2019.

The city of Matrouh was chosen to hold the forum due to the connection between the art of sculpting scrap iron and the remnants of the Second World War, especially the presence of a huge amount of weapon remnants, which prompted artists to use these metal remnants to produce artworks that express the woes of war.

His artwork, “Music that Addresses the Conscience," is formed from scrap iron, which is a formation of long metal pipes stacked side by side as if they were engraved decorations. When the air passes through these pipes, it creates a sound like the musical bell that delights the ears, as well as the artist reviewing the factors of time and life and their impact on us, the extent to which our memory is tested towards everything that we have been fascinated and loved since a long time ago, and the effect of time factors in confirming this love and its authenticity or erasing it from the memory.

Father-Son Art Exhibition 2021

An exhibition by Vahan Telpian explores the complex relationship between a father and his son through a series of artworks curated by Vahan's son, Kayan.

Fire Extinguisher 2021

A short film was played and performed by Vahan Telpian at the first contemporary art gallery, the Palace of Arts, Cairo Opera House.

Special Exhibitions

A Painting and Sculpting Exhibition at Cairo-Berlin Gallery, 1992
A relief sculpting and structural modelling exhibition at the Arts Complex, Zamalek, 1995
An Exhibition at the Arts Complex, Zamalek 1999
Roots Exhibition at Darb 1718 (2008)
A Painting and Sculpting Exhibition at Gallery Noot 2018
Father-Son Art Exhibition 2021

Local Group Exhibitions

Vahan participated in several local group exhibitions from 1983 until now, including:

- Sixth Youth Salon 1994, Eighth 1996, Ninth 1997, Tenth 1998.

- National Fine Arts Exhibition, session (25) 1997.

- Fourth Salon of Small Works of Art 2000.

- Nour Al-Shakl Exhibition, third session, at the Palace of Arts, May 2017.

- Second Sculpture Salon at the Palace of Arts, September 2018.

- Exhibition (Egyptian-Sudanese Plastic Art) at the Ramattan Cultural Center in the Taha Hussein Museum, November 2019.

-The First Forum for Rock Salt Sculpture in Siwa 2020

International Group Exhibitions/Overseas Exhibitions

- The Fourth International Sculpture Symposium in Aswan 1999.

- The Fifth Cairo International Ceramic Biennale 2000.

- The Eighth Cairo International Biennale 2000.

Local awards

- Sixth Youth Salon Award 1994.

-Second prize at the Ninth Youth Salon 1997.

Official collectibles

- Museum of Modern Egyptian Art.