Lebanese-American artist, Missak Terzian, was born in 1949 to Armenian parents. The artist studied at Ecole d'Art Guvder in 1968 and graduated from London College of Printing in 1971.

His paintings are part of many collections in Europe, the United States of America, in the Middle East, namely Lebanon, Armenia, the United Arab Emirates, Canada and the Republic of China .

His works are on permanent display throughout Lebanon, at the Bank Audi head office Museum, the Armenian Catholicossate of Cilicia Museum, the Sursock Museum and the Museum of Bzommar.

He is a creative graphic designer, pre-press color specialist by profession and an artist by vocation who held his first major art exhibition in 1984. Since then, the artist has participated in 80 exhibitions worldwide.

With an innate and primal impulse to create, figurative artist Missak Terzian is in timeless search for existentialism and is eager to record time and occurrences . "For me, painting is a visual testament of the mind, body and spirit. Distortion and exaggeration triggers a continuous search into an unknown semi-abstraction" Missak explains.

ARTISTIC EDUCATION
1969 Graduated from Guvder Art School, Beirut, Lebanon
1971 Graduated from London College of Printing, London, United Kingdom

PRIZES
1967 1st Prize of Jury Paul Guiragossian, U.J.A.C.,  Bourj Hamoud, Lebanon
1996 2nd Prize at the 2nd Egyptian Print Biennale, Cairo, Egypt

MEMBERSHIP
1989 Member of Los Angeles Art Association, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
1997 Member the Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon
2007 Member of the Contemporary Art Network, New York, U.S.A.
2008 Member the Lebanese Artists Association, Beirut, Lebanon

GALLERY REPRESENTATION
1987-1999 Galerie Epreuve d’Artiste, Beirut, Lebanon
1992-1993 Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.
2002-2007 Galerie Brönte, Beirut, Lebanon
2009-present Octavia Gallery, United Kingdom
2009-present Noah’s Ark Gallery, Zalka, Lebanon
2009-present Alwane Gallery, Saifi Village, Beirut, Lebanon

WORKS ON DISPLAY AT:
- Stephanie’s Fine Art Gallery, La Canãda, California, U.S.A.
- Gloria Delson Gallery, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
- Arts & Beyond, Sodeco, Beirut, Lebanon
- Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beirut, Lebanon
- Noah’s Ark Gallery, Zalka, Lebanon
- Alwane Gallery, Saifi Village, Beirut, Lebanon

80 exhibitions worldwide, includes 15 solo shows

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

As an artist, my primal impulse to mark is to paint a visual testament of the mind, body and spirit. A search for identity and meaning embodying my urge to create in a figurative tradition and I feel strongly about communicating my feelings.

My work deals with past emotions and images, perhaps my feelings about women, relationships with my mother, wife, children and other male and female individuals that play a part in each painting. I feel a connection to the past and insist on expressing existence. Distortion and exaggeration triggers in me a continuous search for the truth and the unknown. The creative process of art makes me a part of this search.

I believe that art cannot be measured. There are no absolutes, no relations, no biases and no cultures nor religion. For me, art is about empowerment. Art takes time, commitment, failure and revisions, wakes up the imagination and stimulates new resolution.