Denise Yaghmourian

Denise Yaghmourian is a sculptor who works with paper pulp, wood, thread, vinyl, and found objects.  Her sculptural forms are rooted in a hybrid of past art movements and styles, yet they resonate with artistic concerns of today. Her handling of materials reference Minimalism and Post-Minimalism, as well as contemporary art making today. The simplicity of her surface veneers reveals a material-based sensibility.  Conjoining the repetitive process inherent in machine-made items with laboriously repetitious handwork, Yaghmourian embraces the hypnotic and meditative inherent in both.

Denise Yaghmourian was born in Bethpage, New York in 1967.  She received her BFA from Arizona State University in 1991.  Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States, including The Tucson Museum of Art, Phoenix Art Museum, Ceres Gallery in New York, Bogen Galerie in Sain Paul de Vence, France, and SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery in New York.  Her work is in the public collections of Banner Desert Samaritan Hospital and The Institute for Mental Health Research.  Denise Yaghmourian currently lives and works in Phoenix, Arizona.

EDUCATION
1991 BFA, School of Fine Art, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

AWARDS
Contemporary Forum Artist Grant, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017 LABELS, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2016 Go Figure, Practical Art, Phoenix, AZ
2009 Out of the Box, Zane Bennett Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2007 Denise Yaghmourian, Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2006 Fancy Underwear, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, Chelsea, NY
2005 LOOP, Fala Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2005 Push and Pull, Eye lounge: a contemporary art space, Phoenix, AZ
2005 Time Pieces, West Valley Art Museum, Surprise, AZ
2005 Standing Room Only, Burton Barr Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2004 Permanent Installation/ Prenatal, Desert Samaritan Hospital, Mesa, AZ
2003 Night Visions, Eye lounge: a contemporary art space, Phoenix, AZ
2003 Works in White, Eye lounge: a contemporary art space, Phoenix, AZ
2002 Obsessions, Arizona State University, ASU Galleria, Tempe, AZ
2002 Obsessions of the Heart, Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler, AZ
2001 New Work by D. Yaghmourian, Kerr Cultural Center, Scottsdale, AZ

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017 Under the Surface, Denise Yaghmourian & Sarah Kriehn, YCC Gallery, Prescott, AZ
2017 Poetic Minimalism, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2016 String Theory, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2016 Off the Wall, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2016 Five15 to the 5^th, Five15 Arts, Phoenix, AZ
2015 Fragile Life, Modified Arts/phICA, Phoenix, AZ
2015 Minimally Speaking, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2015 Feminism Today, Shade Gallery at the MonOrchid, Phoenix, AZ
2014 The Gift: Selections from the Armstrong-Prior Archive, ASU Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
2013 Sex: A Woman’s Perspective, Curated by Beatrice Moore, Frontal Lobe Community Space and Gallery, Bragg’s Pie Factory, Phoenix, AZ
2013 Structure, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2009 Partisan – Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
2008 Start08, SOHO20 Gallery, Chelsea, NY
2008 The Fiber of the Matter, The Icehouse, Phoenix, AZ
2008 Merry Go Round, SOHO20 Gallery, Chelsea, NY
2006 Ideas/Images/Structures, SOHO20 Gallery, Chelsea, NY
2006 Place, Eye lounge: a contemporary art space, Phoenix, AZ
2006 Figure Exhibition, Bogena Galerie, St. Paul, France
2006 Grant Recipient Exhibition, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2006 Changing the World, One Thread at a Time, An International Exhibition, Tubac Center of the Arts, Tubac, AZ
2005 Under the Influence, Eye lounge: a contemporary art space, Phoenix, AZ
2005 Arizona Biennial – Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ.
2005 Installation of Marcel Duchamp’s Mile of String, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2004 Artlink Juried Exhibition – An Exhibition of Leading Contemporary Arizona Artwork (Jurors: Patty Haberman/ Mesa Contemporary Arts, Alan Jones/Artist, Heather Lineberry / ASU Art Museum) Phoenix, AZ
2004 Ceres Gallery Sixth National Juried Exhibition (Juror: Fereshteh Daftari, Department of Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art) Ceres Gallery, New York, NY
2003 7th Annual Artlink Juried Exhibition – An Exhibition of Leading Contemporary
2003 Art in Arizona(Jurors: Brady Roberts/Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Phoenix Art Museum, Annie Lopez/Phoenix Arts Commission), Sixth Street Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2003 Ceres Gallery National Juried Exhibition, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Group Exhibit, Studio Lo-Do Contemporary Arts Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2001 Artlink Juried Exhibition – Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Federal Courthouse, Phoenix, AZ

PUBLICATIONS
2016 June, Off the Wall at Bentley Gallery, Mary Dashnaw, The Arts Beacon
2015 March, Minimally Speaking Plays with Art History at Bentley Gallery, Lynn Trimble, New Times
2015 November, String Theory at Tucson Museum of Art, AZ Big Media
2015 July, art ltd., Eddie Shea: “Krivanek” and Denise Yaghmourian “Fragile Life” at Modified Arts, Deborah Ross
2015 May, JAVA Magazine, Denise Yaghmourian: Fragile Life at Modified Arts, Jenna Duncan
2015 October, The Republic, Bentley Gallery in Phoenix, Kellie Hwang
2015 April, Arizona Foothills Magazine, Artist Spotlight on Denise Yaghmourian, Nicole Royse
2015 March, The Arts Beacon, Minimally Speaking at Bentley Gallery, Grant Vetter
2015 March, Artsy, Six Sculptors Who Are Straddling Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism
2015 March, Visual Art Source, Feminism Today, Deborah Ross
2014 September, Arizona Foothills Magazine, ARTEL Fall 2014, Nicole Royse
2013 January, Phoenix Business Journal, Phoenix Artist Denise Yaghmourian Is Creating Her First Public Piece for In Flux
2009 June, ARTnews, Holly Roberts/Denise Yaghmourian, Zane Bennet Contemporary Art, pg.52
2009 June /July, Santa Fean, Mark di Suvero, Holly Roberts, and Denise Yaghmourian, pg.53, Michael Abatemarco
2009 June, THE Magazine-of and for the Arts, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, pg.46
2009 June 12-18, Pasatiempo (New Mexico’s Magazine of Arts) Finders Sculptors, pg.47 Douglas Fairfield
2007 September 20, Phoenix New Times, Contain Yourself, pg.48, Lilia Menconi
2007 September 28, Surprise Today, Cube Shape Dominates Surprise Museum Exhibit, pg. B1-3, Staff Report
2003 Five Artists to Watch, The Arizona Republic, John Carlos Villani
2007 Contain Yourself, Phoenix New Times, Lilia Menconi
2007 Cube Shape Dominates Surprise Museum Exhibit, Surprise Today, Staff Report
2009 Holly Roberts/Denise Yaghmourian ARTnews, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art
2009 Mark di Suvero, Holly Roberts, and Denise Yaghmourian, Santa Fean, Michael Abatemarco
2009 THE Magazine-of and for the Arts, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art
2009 Finders Sculptors Pasatiempo (New Mexico’s Magazine of Arts), Douglas Fairfield

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Tucson Museum of Art
Institute for Mental Health Research, Phoenix, AZ
Desert Samaritan Hospital, Mesa, AZ
The Arizona Country Club, Phoenix, AZ
The University of New Mexico, NM

PRESS

Artsy Editorial: Six Sculptors Who Are Straddling Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism
Following the spread of the Minimalism movement in the 1960’s, its terminology has been applied across numerous practices, leading to an inevitable obscurity that some contemporary artists are willing to scrutinize. Minimally Speaking (on view at Bentley Gallery through March) highlights six such artists whose counteractions and homages challenge mid-century ideals. Their works – while aesthetically spare and modern – allude to traces of personal inspiration, rendering contemporary blends of Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism.

EXHIBITION REVIEW – Bentley Gallery, June 2018: Phoenix New Times by Lynn Trimble
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/artist-draws-from-brothers-suicide-for-bentley-exhibit-10535284