Artist Elza Mkrtychyan

Elza Mkrtychyan is an internationally exhibited mixed-media artist known for her powerful storytelling and richly layered compositions. With a background rooted in curating and decades of creative exploration, her work blends texture, memory, and intuition to create visual experiences that transcend place and time.

Step Into Her World

About the Artist

Elza Mkrtychyan is a visionary mixed-media artist whose work transcends borders, cultures, and time. Born into a family of artists in 1964, she has spent decades developing a creative voice that is deeply personal yet universally resonant. Her journey spans from curating exhibitions at Moscow’s renowned Paradise Gallery to emerging as a fresh voice in the American art scene in 2022.

Elza is not bound by geography or tradition—she is a lifelong learner, a curious observer, and a fearless experimenter. Her work is admired in private collections across Russia, Armenia, Switzerland, and the United States.

Artist Journey

Born in 1964 into a family of artists

1999–2019: Curated permanent exhibition at Paradise Gallery, Moscow

2000–2019: Exhibited alongside prominent artists at Paradise Gallery

2010–2015: Directed studio for young artists

2019: Returned to Armenia

2019–2021: Private Studio Exhibitions, Armenia

2022: Debuted in the American art scene, quickly gaining attention

2022–Present: Midwest Private Open House Series, U.S.

2022: International Festival of Culture, U. S.

Works now held in private collections in Russia, Armenia, Switzerland, and the U.S.

Style & Process

Elza Mkrtychyan’s art defies easy categorization. Her style is rooted in mixed media, blending abstraction, symbolism, and storytelling into deeply layered visual experiences. She combines fabric, paper, paint, and sometimes found materials, creating textures that are both tactile and emotional.

Her compositions move fluidly between geometry and organic form, between structure and spontaneity—as seen in her abstract architectural pieces, emotionally charged color blocks, and delicate symbol-laden imagery. From bold, expressive red textures to dreamlike forms and luminous florals edged in gold, Elza’s art is constantly evolving.

While some works echo Armenian visual traditions, she resists being defined by a single heritage or style. Elza is an observer of the world, drawing inspiration from memories, textiles, architecture, mythology, and emotion. Her process is exploratory—she allows intuition, memory, and visual rhythm to guide her, making each piece a story waiting to be read.

At its heart, Elza’s art is about transformation and connection: transforming material into meaning, personal history into universal resonance, and stillness into movement. Her style is expansive, curious, and deeply human.

Artist Statement

When I was five years old, my grandmother Herik, a seamstress, instilled in me a love of fabrics. I often stayed with her while she worked at home, and I fell in love with the way she gracefully sewed together different fabrics, breathing life into new dresses and shirts and pants. To make sure I didn’t interrupt her while she was working, she used to open her sewing box and take out tiny scraps of cloth she had saved for just such an occasion.

When I got older, I never missed an opportunity to run into a fabric store so I could feel the texture of each unique piece of cloth, bringing back memories of my grandmother Herik. One thousand ideas for never-before-seen garments flooded my brain as I was transported back to my grandmother’s home, sitting on the floor as a child, watching Herik sew something new from this fabric I had just discovered.

When I started making my own creations, I always remembered those tiny scraps Herik had given to me as a child. I’ve never been able to throw out a piece of cloth, and instead I repurpose old dresses into something new, maybe a pillowcase or a shawl. This allows me to preserve my memories that the owners of these garments imprinted onto them; an artistic snapshot of the past. For me, all of my artwork is inspired by these feelings of memory and preservation, transforming what I see and experience into something beautiful and new.

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