Korman Galleries 122–124, First Floor
Main Building
Archaeologist, builder, magician
Varujan Boghosian (American, born 1926) holds a deep fascination with objects that evoke the past. As much a collector as an artist, he scours antique shops and flea markets for materials to use in his imaginative sculptures and collages. By cleverly combining and recontextualizing our castoffs—books, cards, toys, figurines, tools, glass, twine—he exploits their expressive power in sly, often poetic ways.
Boghosian draws inspiration from a wide range of sources, including literature, poetry, music, history, and art. He is particularly enchanted with Greek myths (the love story of Orpheus and Eurydice is a favorite) as well as the work of iconoclasts like writer James Joyce and artists Salvador Dalí and Marcel Duchamp.
The objects presented in this exhibition were selected from a generous donation of thirty works by Boghosian from the collection of Joel and Sherry Mallin. They are supplemented by a small group of loans from the artist.