Ruby Vartan

Ruby Vartan (b.1979) is a prize-winning Lebanese artist who was born in Beirut to Armenian parents and today lives and works in Los Angeles.

Having discovered her passion for art, drawing and painting as a child, she was encouraged to take further academic art courses for art after winning first prize in painting aged 14 at the Armenian Cultural Centre. Vartan attended the Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts (ALBA) in Beirut, specialising in Fine Arts, and received her Master’s Degree in 2003. She moved to the US in 2008, where she currently lives, works and exhibits her art.

As a child, Vartan quickly discovered that art was an ideal conduit for channelling her emotions, offering a welcome refuge from the chaos and conflicts that have long marked Lebanon and the wider region.

Vartan offers viewers an honest and intimate glimpse into her inner world through painting. Melding figuration and abstraction, she presents audiences with deeply personal works steeped in emotion and sensuality, recalling memories and stories, including snapshots of her Armenian heritage, which she captures and preserves on canvas.

The strong use of colour in her paintings, especially the many shades of red she chooses, symbolises her desires and acknowledges her Armenian heritage and identity.

“I paint the process of change, inspired by my own personal life experiences. I paint my unspoken words. My colors in my paintings symbolize feelings and emotions that cannot be expressed in words, while the traces of pure white untouched canvas represent hopes, dreams and desires,” she has said. 

Abstracting the female form and the journey she undergoes to reach this point are focal points of Vartan’s practice, resulting in works that she describes as “simultaneous self-portraits and cross-cultural signifiers of feminine essentialism”. 

Vartan’s studio process is inclusive and experimental. She will tear the canvas one day, for example and sew it the next, in her bid to reach the exact resonance of closeness and discretion that is at the heart of her art. Her practice also includes live performances at which she sometimes uses her body as a contour. This was evident in a performance she gave in November 2024, which was held at Shoebox Arts, Los Angeles (LA). These complex, multi-layered compositions speak of wounds and trauma, but also the path towards healing, redemption and renewal.

Vartan began participating in group shows in Lebanon in 1995 and, since moving to LA in 2008, has exhibited her work extensively at galleries and museums in cities across the US.

Ruby Vartan has also shown her work at several events in Yerevan, Armenia and taken part in a cultural exchange programme in digital public art held across the metro system in Gimpo city, South Korea.

Vartan’s work featured in a landmark solo exhibition titled ‘Rise’ at the Glenmark hotel, Glendale, California in 2023. 

Other recent shows featuring Vartan’s work include events at: Brewery Artwalk Fall 2024, TKO Gallery & Jesus Art Wall, LA (2024); Hive Gallery, Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) (2024); ‘Not an Art Fair’, Shockboxx Gallery, Hermosa Beach (2024); Ladies Night, Sab Gallery Collection, Arts District, DTLA (2024); ‘I Have My Own Plan’, Shoebox Arts, LA (2024); ‘Apophenia’, Open call, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG), LA (2024); Baldwin Art Gallery, Pasadena (2023); Brand 51, Brand Gallery Art Center, Glendale, CA (2023); Museum of Art and History (MOAH), Juried Art Exhibition, Lancaster, LA (2023); Charity Auction, Assistance League of Los Angeles, LA (2023); The Makery, Glendale Arts Association (First in Show Award), CA (2023); ‘Art is in Bloom’, Artcore Union Center for the Arts, DTLA (2022); ‘Discovering Takouhi: Portraits of Joan Agajanian Quinn’, the Armenian Museum of America, Boston (2022); ‘Make Plain’, Gallery 825, LA (2022); ‘Telling Stories’, Shoebox Arts, LA (2022); ‘Perceive You’, Shoebox Arts, LA (2022); ‘Live Performances Art’, Armenian American Museum Gala, LA (2022); ‘Bodies’ online show, Ikouii (2022); Cactus Gallery, LA (2021); ‘Verbal Descriptions’, Ace/121 Gallery, Glendale, CA (2020); ‘Beyond Redemption’, Launch LA Gallery, LA (2019); ‘The Next Thing’, Blackboard Gallery, Camarillo (third-place winner) (2019); ‘Abstracto’, The Neutra, LA (2019); Collector’s Choice Awards, Studio Channel Islands, Camarillo (2019); Museum of Modern Art, Yerevan, Armenia (2018); Yerevan Art Expo,  Yeran Factory (2018); Yerevan Art Expo, Yeran Factory (2017); ‘Open Call – Play’, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Art Park, Hollywood (2016); Arevdur, Armenian Arts Gallery, Glendale, CA (2016); ‘AGBU 110 - Anniversary Art Display’, The Reef, DTLA (2016); ‘Arts Treasures’, Burbank, LA (2016); ‘Art Goes Electronic’, on the Sunset Blvd Billboard, Hollywood (2015); ‘Art to Ark - From East to West’, West Hollywood Pop-Up Art Gallery (2014); ‘Thematic Expressions’ - Anzoh Art Gallery, Glendale, CA (2014); ‘Synthesis’, Mkrtchyan Art Gallery, Glendale, CA (2013); ‘Art in Fall’, Hovnanian School, New Jersey (NJ) (2013); ‘Emerging Artist Exhibition’, ACA Gallery, New York (NY) (2012); ‘Art in Fall’, Hovnanian School, NJ (2011); ICO Gallery, NY (2010); ‘Art in fall’, Hovnanian School, NJ (2010); Gallery Good, Glendale, CA (2009); Municipality of Jdeideh, Beirut (2008); Palais de Congres Emil Lahoud, Beirut (2004); Escalier de L’art Gemmayzeh, Beirut (2003); Municipality of Gemmayzeh (2003); University of ALBA, Beirut (2003); ‘Exposition de Ceramique’, ALBA, Beirut (2001); Kulturzentrum, Beirut (2000); and ‘Exposition de Ceramique’ Gallery SD, Beirut (2000).

In addition to her practice, Vartan also works as an art teacher at Cabayan Elementary School, LA, where she is known for her ability to inspire her students.