Conversations with Hagop Najarian

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hagop Najarian.

Hi Hagop, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Beirut , Lebanon and immigrated to La Mirada, in 1969 when I was five years old. At the time, Lebanon was in civil unrest and my father had the vision to move our family to America. He had helped his brothers pursue their degrees in America, and once he saw the olive trees and the similar mediterranean climate in La Mirada, he knew that was the place to move his family, me and my fours sisters. My Father and grandfather were carpenters in Lebanon, creating furniture and wood structures with hand tools and old world craftsmanship. I am sure that watching my father and grandfather create furniture by hand and the “love of the making” is why I became an artist. My Grandfather was a Genocide survivor and always told stories of his challenging history and perseverance to survive.

Through the years my father and mother’s families immigrated to La Mirada in close by neighborhoods and created a wonderful village to grow up with. Through this community, the families preserved the Armenian culture of the language, history, food and music as they acclimated to the American way of life. One day a door to door accordion salesman came to our house offering accordion lessons. My father and grandfather were thrilled, sat me down, I tried out the instrument , and it became my creative outlet for eight years. I took lessons and played in concerts for eight years until my father passed away in 1977 and Punk Rock was born. Weekends were often all day events of our families gathering , cooking, telling stories and the older members would sing and dance to the Armenian songs they brought with them. I was soon designated as the main instrument of choice to lead the songs and it became my job to play accordion to the variety of Armenian folk and traditional songs . This was the foundation that made me also become a musician as well as a painter from these rich, homegrown experiences.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Unfortunately I lost my parents at a young age, my father in 1977 when I was 13, and my mother in 1988. What gave me strength throughout these challenging times was my four sisters and my uncles and aunts that lived nearby. I also found salvage through making art, skateboarding and playing music. I was fortunate to grow up with an amazing skateboard park (Skate City) in Whittier, five minutes from my house. Skateboarding in the 80’s was a pivotal time for me and my friends, it provided a community and place to go that was endless fun and pure joy. I am still close with those friends, most of whom continued to make a career out of skateboarding as Pro skaters or company owners. With the inspiration of DIY Punk ethos, I started playing in bands when I was fifteen and continue to play and record music as an extension of my creative process. All three of these things: making paintings, recording music and skateboarding, I still continue to practice for my artistic expression, exercise and my sanity.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I received my BFA in drawing and painting in 1991 at CSULB and my MFA in 1995 at Tyler School of art / Temple University. I met my wife Andrea Bersaglieri , who is also an artist at CSULB in 1986. We married in 1991 and have two children. My first year of Graduate study was at Temple University’s campus in Rome Italy. It was the Italian Fresco painting masters like Duccio, Masaccio and Giotto that brought clarity to my work. Through the influence of these Italian masters, concepts of humanity, domestic grounding and the joy of life became constant subjects for my work.
In 1995 we returned to California and I started teaching as an adjunct professor in studio art at CSULB, Long Beach City College, Cypress College and Cerritos College. The experience as a “Freeway Flyer “ was invaluable and I was fortunate to receive a full time position at Cerritos College as a Drawing and Painting faculty member in 1999. I have been a Full Time Professor of Art/ Drawing and Painting at Cerritos College for twenty six years. I teach Life Drawing, Painting and Color Theory. It has been a gift of a job teaching new generations the power of art making and getting them to trust in the idea of personal expression and freedom through the process. The college has an amazing art department and in 2016 the college built a new state of the art building.

During my sabbatical leave in 2014-2015 I took post graduate courses at CSULB and chose to find new directions in my studio practice . I deliberately stopped painting figures and imagery and focused on investigating abstraction and color as a primary subject in my drawings and paintings. I used the compositional and structural formats within musical genres to parallel the formal elements of drawing and painting. In my abstract series “Atonal Chromatics”, I investigated the compositional and structural elements of Atonal Harmonics in music and translated the effects to the process of drawing and painting. The paintings are a synthesis of color and sound. As an ongoing record of my visual and musical DNA, these paintings celebrate both the audible and visual senses within my creative process as a painter and musician. During Pandemic shut down years, I continued making work and was influenced by the effects the pandemic was having on our society. I was very upset by our country’s lack of leadership, the negative culture that was brewing politically and the overall lack of communication and humanity being shared as citizens living through this crisis. In my paintings, I started using the human figure and imagery again to communicate narratives of optimism, joy and the celebration of life. “Stonehenge and Us” is a painting I made in 2021 that was a turning point in my work. It represents the ancient Stonehenge monument but with human figures attempting to support each other and hold each other up around the fractured environment.

I continue to make both abstract paintings and also ones that synthesize the abstraction, color and mood with the imagery and concepts of the narrative in each painting. I enjoy telling stories in my drawings and paintings. The freedom to use the imagery , merged with the abstract elements of the environment and rendering forms is currently still part of the paintings that bring me the greatest joy to make.
What has kept my work alive and me productive as an artist is having a studio at the Bendix building in downtown LA, and being a member of two art collectives. The Bendix building along with the remaining businesses, has many artist run spaces, commercial galleries and artists studios. The art community in Los Angeles is incredibly thriving with many opportunities to exhibit one’s work, meet new artists and decide what avenues to pursue. I am a member of Durden and Ray and MAÄRLA , which are both art collectives that focus on curating exhibitions with local, national and international artists. Durden and Ray participates in many International exchanges with artists and galleries , which has allowed me to exhibit and travel to Europe with my work. My art collectives and the artists at the Bendix building are a really invaluable community to have for support, inspiration and open dialogues as we navigate through these uncertain times.

What’s next?
After 26 years as a full time Professor of Art at Cerritos College, I hope to retire in a few years.
This will allow me to focus on painting and recording music. Through my art collectives, I will continue exhibiting my work and curating exhibitions. I will also travel with my wife as much as we can throughout the United States and the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hagopnajarianart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/factorynajar1969/