Alexandra Manukyan: The Tender Vigil at Abend Gallery
Alexandra Manukyan: The Tender Vigil at Abend Gallery
New oil paintings explore stillness, attention, and the weight of care
Abend Gallery presents The Tender Vigil, a solo exhibition of new oil paintings by Alexandra Manukyan, on April 3, which will run through April 25. The exhibit will feature nineteen paintings of young women in peaceful interactions with birds, porcelain, lace, and winter light. An opening reception for the exhibit will take place on April 4th from 5-7 p.m.; Manukyan will attend. Prior to the opening date, collectors can preview the paintings beginning April 1 at 10:00 a.m. MT online by registering for the gallery’s e-mail list.
Due to her fashion background, fabric is central to Manukyan’s work. In The Quiet Ceremony, Manukyan painted a young woman sitting in front of a series of porcelain containers with a design of the young woman’s blue and white dress. The detail of the lace is impressive and so too the beadwork catching the light. The reason for all of these details being important to Manukyan is the fact that she creates and sews much of the costume herself prior to picking up a brush. “It felt less like depiction and more like an act of quiet consecration,” she says of the process.
However, the costumes themselves are not what the paintings are about. The faces of the subjects are what make this artwork unique. A young woman holding a white fox against her chest as snow falls behind her is the subject of Pale Sanctuary. There is no dreaminess in her face. Instead, it is watchful. The same feeling exists in The Oracle in Blue Lace, where a young woman stands with pigeons circling above her. The subject meets something just beyond the edge of the canvas with her gaze. Manukyan describes this phenomenon in her artist statement as “tender vigilance” – the feeling that stillness can protect, and that paying attention can also be a type of care. Of The Pearl-Bearer’s Vigil, she notes that “restraint, silence, and inwardness became the true subject.”
Birds appear throughout the exhibition. “They function less as symbols and more as silent witnesses,” Manukyan explains, “reinforcing the sense that each figure exists within a larger, watchful, and interconnected interior cosmos.”
The paintings vary in size from 30 by 24 inches to 14 by 11 inches. Most are oil on Belgian linen and are mounted on aluminum panels. Doves are common. Porcelain in a blue and white coloration are also frequent appearances. However, regardless of whether the scene takes place in winter or has warm colors, such as the pink and gold of The Hush of Petals, all have a sense of suspended breath.
Manukyan was born in Armenia in 1963. She received training in fine arts at the P. Terlemezian College of Fine Arts and Design in Yerevan and moved to Los Angeles in 1990. For twenty years she worked in both fashion and graphic design. At one time, she created movie posters for films. After that, she began to paint full-time in 2012. Since that time, her paintings have been included in magazines including American Art Collector, Fine Art Connoisseur, and Beautiful Bizarre. This is Manukyan’s fourth solo exhibition at Abend Gallery.
Exhibition Details
Title: The Tender Vigil: Alexandra Manukyan
Dates: April 3 – April 25, 2026
Online Collector Preview: April 1, 2026, 10:00 a.m. MT (email signup required)
Opening Reception: April 4, 2026, 5–7 p.m.(artist in attendance)
Location: Abend Gallery, 1261 Delaware St, Suite 2, Denver, CO 80204
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 12–4 p.m., and by appointment
- - 303-355-0950 - -
Website: www.abendgallery.com
Press Images
Web-ready images available at: https://abend.cc/manukyan-press. High-resolution files available upon request.
About Abend Gallery
Abend Gallery has operated in Denver’s Golden Triangle since 1990. The primary focus of the gallery is contemporary realism and figurative paintings.
