Onik Sahakian

Onik Sahakian was born on December 4, 1936, in Tehran, at the time it was the capital of the Persian Empire; son of an Armenian-Russian family who sought refuge there after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Still very young, he began his artistic education, especially in the fields of music and dance, receiving a scholarship to attend the Persian Miniature Painting Course in the famous Honarestan Zibaé Keshwar (Tehran Institute of Fine Arts). In 1953 he travelled to the Soviet Union, with the aim of continuing to study ballet and develop his artistic training. When he returned to Iran, he held the position of advisor for the Ministry of Culture for approximately two years and was invited to join the dance studio of Madame Yelena Avetisian. He was also invited to the newly created National Ballet of Iran, directed by William Dollar, during 1956. But, that same year, he went to the United States to study political science, attending classes only during an academic year, after which he decided, definitely, for his artistic career. He joined Chouniard Art School in Los Angeles, California, where he completed his master’s degree in 1964. In parallel, he developed his knowledge of the techniques of classical painters, receiving private lessons from several renowned professors. He was initially influenced by the French school, then by the Italian school and, in a third phase, by the Impressionists. In 1958, he met Salvador Dalí in person, initiating a relationship of friendship and direct collaboration that lasted nineteen years. Fascinated by the work of the painter, he became his disciple, and Dali’s surrealism would surely be his greatest influence. In 1969, he moved from Los Angeles to New York, where he founded his own art consulting and jewellery design company: “Onik Designs Ltd”. The 1971 painting and jewellery exhibition at the Rockfeller Centre, under the theme “The image and the jewel of the month”, and which lasted a year, gave a wide recognition by the public and in the main pages of most major newspapers and magazines in New York. In 1976 he was appointed art advisor at the Niavran Cultural Centre in Tehran, where he works directly with Haydeh Changizian, the first Iranian dancer. He moved to Portugal in 1987, decided to suspend his artistic activities, which however would resume under the influence and impulse of Ana Maria Botelho, with whom he contacted for the first time in 1990. Onik Sahakian’s talent was multifaceted, expressing himself through painting, jewellery (many of the jewels used by Dali and Gala were his), sculpture, scenery and ballet costumes. Throughout his career, he has exhibited worldwide, especially in the American and European continents, having presented more than 40 exhibitions.