Vazgen Badalyan is better known as Vic Darchinyan’s coach. Today as well Badalyan works with boxers in Vanadzor and trains athletes for our teams. But very few know that Vazgen Badalyan also works for the police and loves to draw.
Talks with this talented person are always interesting and this time Mediamax Sport decided to put aside the topic of sport and talk to him about art, his works and personal exhibitions.
Painting is the God’s gift. No matter how much effort you commit in a certain person, if he is not gifted, he won’t master it during time.
“One day I was talking to humorist Samvel Khalatyan and at the same time drawing. In a long while, I was invited to the place of a mutual friend of ours – cross-stone maker Bogdan Hovhannisyan. I suddenly noticed several paintings hanging there that appeared very dear for my heart. I told my friend I liked those pictures when he said that those were the drawings I had made at Samvel’s place. It turned out he had gathered them and kept,” Vazgen Badalyan started the talk on art.
I drew Minas here. It was an attempt to convey his soul and tragedy, and so I drew him in the way I perceive his greatness. I was overexcited when his son visited my exhibition and said he liked it.
Photo: from personal archive
He engaged in drawing. Vazgen’s first exhibition was held in Vanadzor in 2000 on the recommendation of his friends. After the successful exhibition, he started drawing even more.
“I draw because I enjoy it and not because I am competing with anyone. After seeing my works Karen Aghamyan grew very excited and although I don’t have education, I became a member of the Artists’ Union and I am very happy for it,” said the artist coach.
This one depicts a nut and a family within it. The nut stands for the idea of family, unity and solidarity.
Photo: from personal archive
According to Vazgen Badalyan, the works of all painters feature the concept of the woman, while those of Armenian painters – have the concept of the woman and Mount Ararat.
“I usually draw having a feel for the subject. They say if you don’t have relevant education, you cannot draw a human. But I manage to do it as we used to study medicine at the Institute of Physical Culture, and I know the structure of human bodies,” he said.
I think and immediately start drawing. For example, I drew Vic and I put the emphasis on the idea and not on his image.
Photo: from personal archive
“During the exhibition in Yerevan, many people asked me what I had drawn with. In reality, it was a common gloss, which dries very quickly. In this regard, after preparing it I need to have the drawing completed within three minutes.”
Everyone in Vanadzor knows Nanar; she is a sick woman.
Photo: from personal archive
Vazgen Badalyan has had five personal exhibitions in Alaverdi, Stepanavan, Yerevan and Vanadzor (twice).
I have drawn my grandmother with tired hands and feet, worn out of much work...
Photo: from personal archive
“I am a boxing coach and have trained various champions and have sent two boxers to the Olympics – Lernik Papyan and Vic Darchinyan. I have worked for the police for 23 years and have passed the war period. But along with this, I am a cultural figure who loves to create and spend his every spare minute drawing,” concluded Vazgen Badalyan.
I drew a bird in the “overdue flight” painting – a bird which is already old but craves for flying, a bird that is physically unable to do anything despite its sound mind.
Photo: from personal archive
Gohar Nalbandian talked to Vazgen Badalyan
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