Project Description

b. 1967, Bethpage, NY

Denise Yaghmourian is a painter, sculptor and installation artist who works with a variety of materials, including paper pulp, paint, thread, vinyl and found objects. Her works are hybridized forms, with methodological roots in past movements like Minimalism and Post-Minimalism, and a conceptual grounding in contemporary practices. The simplicity of her surfaces reveal a material-based sensibility. Conjoining the repetitive process inherent in machine-made items with laboriously repetitious handwork, Yaghmourian embraces the hypnotic and the meditative.

Denise Yaghmourian 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, GRANTS, AND HONORS
2005
Contemporary Forum Artist Grant, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
 
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
Objects of Memory, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
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 5th, 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
 
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
 
PUBLICATIONS
2016
Dashnaw, Mary. Off the Wall at Bentley Gallery, The Arts Beacon, June 2016
2015
Trimble, Lynn. Minimally Speaking Plays with Art History at Bentley Gallery, Phoenix New Times, March 2015
2015
String Theory at Tucson Museum of Art, AZ Big Media, November 2015
2015
Ross, Deborah. Eddie Shea Krivanek and Denise Yaghmourian “Fragile Life” at Modified Arts, art ltd., July 2015
2015
Duncan, Jenna. Denise Yaghmourian: Fragile Life at Modified Arts, JAVA Magazine, May 2015
2015
Hwang, Kellie. Bentley Gallery in Phoenix, The Republic, October 2015
2015
Royse, Nicole. Artist Spotlight on Denise Yaghmourian, Arizona Foothills Magazine, April 2015
2015
Vetter, Grant. Minimally Speaking at Bentley Gallery, The Arts Beacon, March 2015
2015
Six Sculptors Who Are Straddling Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism, Artsy Editorial, March 2015
2015
Ross, Deborah. Feminism Today, Visual Art Source, March 2015
2014
Royse, Nicole. ARTEL Fall 2014, Arizona Foothills Magazine, September 2014
2013
Phoenix Artist Denise Yaghmourian Is Creating Her First Public Piece for In Flux, Phoenix Business Journal, January 2013
2009
Holly Roberts/Denise Yaghmourian at Zane Bennett, ARTnews, pg. 52, June 2009
2009
Abatemarch, Michael. Mark di Suvero, Holly Roberts, and Denise Yaghmourian, Santa Fean, pg. 53, June/July 2009
2009
Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, THE Magazine of and for the Arts, pg.46, June 2009
2009
Fairfield, Douglas. Finders Sculptors, Pasatiempo, pg. 47, June 2009
2007
Menconi, Lilia. Contain Yourself, Phoenix New Times, pg. 48, September 2007
2007
Staff Report. Cube Shape Dominates Surprise Museum Exhibit, Surprise Today, pg. B1-3, September 28, 2007
2007
Menconi, Lilia. Contain Yourself, Phoenix New Times, 2007
2007
Staff Report. Cube Shape Dominates Surprise Museum Exhibit, Surprise Today, 2007
2003
Villani, Carlos. Five Artists to Watch, The Arizona Republic, 2003

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.

Phoenix New Times – Artist Denise Yaghmourian Talks Objects, Suicide, and Memory
More than 100 objects covered in dried black paint hang suspended in the air over the polished concrete floor at Bentley Gallery, where they center an exhibition called “Objects of Memory.” Like other elements in the exhibit, the installation references moments in time, the inner workings of the human mind, the shifting nature of memory, and the place of objects in our lives.

Arizona Foothills Magazine – Artist Spotlight on Denise Yaghmourian
Meet local artist Denise Yaghmourian, a multimedia artist who dazzles in mixed media working in fibers, found objects, performance and installation.

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Meet Denise Yaghmourian: Multimedia Artist
Shouout Arizona

We had the good fortune of connecting with Denise Yaghmourian and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Read more…