ABOUT

1968 – Born to George and Louise Beylerian, successful entrepreneurs in the field of Design, founder of Material Connexion and Culture & Commerce. George Beylerian loved to collect art and had a visionary eye for it. Gregory Beylerian became encouraged to create art because of the father’s loving reaction each time an art gift was presented for Father’s Day, Christmas and birthday.

1976 – In third grade Beylerian remembers solving math equations visually, by placing numbers under the line that kept in visual balance with the numbers that were above the line. Since this approach yielded the wrong mathematical answers he was sent to a special school to be rehabilitated to think like the other children. Thankfully it did not take hold.

1982 – 1985 – At age 14 Beylerian forms an experimental art rock group while attending a boarding school in Princeton New Jersey called “HSST”, recording many surreal sessions that reside in the artists archives. Beylerian had created an alter ego for this group whose name was Alpha Beta. This collaboration would continue to make experimental recordings for 10 more years.

1985 – After graduating High School Beylerian backpacked throughout Europe with his 35mm film camera and a friend. Starting in Denmark then to Germany, Italy and France where he lived virtually on the beaches of Nice for weeks with nothing toothbrush and pair of shorts since his back pack was stolen while he was attending a Cure concert in Frejus. Beylerian also would have three close calls with death that summer, including almost driving off a cliff in the Italian Alps but landion in a truffle farm instead. Thethey areng thrust underwater deep into the ocean while parasailing in Cannes. And having a backpack of wine, cheese and break coming loose on his motorcycle and tangling in the rear wheel while driving along the French coastline, thus wiping out…

1986 – Beylerian is Accepted  to Rochester Institute of Technology for Art, Design and Photography based on a portfolio of work created as a young teenager. Until college, all his artworks had been created intuitively, not once having taken an art class. These artworks, mostly sculptural and some paintings, had been created as gifts for Beylerian’s father.

1988 – Beylerian travels across the country to take summer courses at UCLA for Photography & Design using Apple computers (very young technology for the time). Along the road trip to California from NYC, Beylerian would stop to experience his first Grateful Dead concert at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. There he would unknowingly digest two acid laced cream cheese bagels for which he hallucinated for many days. Beylerian’s perception of color expanded from that experience.

At R.I.T.’s school of Photography, Beylerian worked on the team to test the first Beta release of Photoshop before it was introduced into the market. A custom built digital camera constructed and provided by Kodak and Minolta was utilized to explore the potential of digital imaging. These experimental technologies would later become central components to Beylerian’s creative process. During Beylerian’s time at R.I.T. he had the opportunity to explore various other mediums including Video, where he filmed the making of sculptures and paintings using explosives.

1990 – Graduated from R.I.T. with a Bachelor of the Arts. in Design & Photography and a minor in Philosophy. It was the first time in Beylerian’s life that he would receive A grades in all of his fine art classes except one. It was a series of photographs created for a class on Alternative Processes, using methods like liquid light, cyanotype and palladium. The subject matter would be Beylerian’s first experience shooting nudes of which he had 10 subjects. He gave each subject a theses he wrote for his Philosophy final entitled “Exploring Emotional Inhibitions Thru Photography”. The Photography teacher of the class was an openly gay feminist and found the work to be objectifying, thus giving Beylerian a barely passing grade of D. 20 years later Beylerian would find his original paper and after reading it, realized that unknowingly he was continuing the intention of those ideas and it re affirmed to him that even when mis understood and discouraged by others, the artist must persevere and honor their authentic visions.

1991 – Under supervision of Dr. Murray Alpert, director at NYU Medical Research Center for Schizophrenia, Beylerian was commissioned to design the first hand held device for therapeutic interaction with mentally ill patients in an effort to better their quality of life. To make extra money to buy his dream camera, a Nikon F4, Beylerian subjected himself to various experiments that took place in a dark lead walled room in the basement of the Research Center. One such experiment involved taking experimental psychotropic drugs and being fitted directly on the eyes with a contact lens connected to electrodes. While the eyes were clamped open, a hoard of bright and abrasive lights were shined into the eyes for 2 hours. At the time $200  seemed worth it.

1992 -1993 – Travels to Milan, Italy and receives a Masters Degree in the Arts from Domus Academy. His professors and lecturers were acclaimed professionals in the field of art and design including Arman, Mario Bellini, Andrea Branzi, Anna Castelli (family friend), Achille Castiglioni, Antonio  Citterio, Paolo Deganello, Michele De Lucchi, Stefano Giovannoni, Milton Glaser (family friend), Isao Hosoe, Enzo Mari, Javier Mariscal, Massimo Vignelli, Ingo Maurer, Alesandro Mendini, Bruno Munari, Ettore Sottsass, etc.  His Master thesis was with Alessi  and worked closely with Alberto Alessi to create a new approach to bridge art with culture thru commerce. Stephan Marzano, design director at Phillips, was Beylerian’s  mentor during this project. During these two years Beylerian traveled extensively thru Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Hungary and Greece. Beylerian’s mother would support his love of Polaroid cameras by sending polaroid film occasionally  as it was an expensive medium to work with.

1993 – Worked with King & Miranda, a celebrated European design team, assisting the integration into their studio one of the first Apple computer systems used for the design process in Europe.

1994 – Beylerian returns to NYC and works in the Soho studio of Internationally recognized Artist / Architect / Designer Gaetano Pesce, building under his direction, many of his iconic sculptural design museum works.

1994 – Begins exploration into deeper consciousness thru the use of shamanic drumming. Little would he know at the time that These practices would play a significant role in Beylerian’s development and implementation of his “flow Dynamics” principles and its relevance to contemporary art.

1995 – Rides motorcycle across country to Los Angeles while camping the entire time. With minimal space available on the motorcycle, Beylerian brings along his 3 prized possessions, the Nikon F4, a poetry inspiring 1940’s Smith Corona typewriter which he found in the garbage in NYC and a shakuhachi Japanese bamboo flute.

1995 – 1997 – Beylerian works for the Disney Consumer Products division in Burbank, CA., designing for the 6 standard characters: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto. Highlights include heading the design of a new brand campaign for Mickey called “Future Mouse” inspired by the booming new technologies and desert rave culture Beylerian was experiencing in the Southern California landscape of the 1990’s. This was the first time Mickey Mouse would get a visual transformation since the 1930’s. Beylerian’s first large scale mural was also created for Disney and displayed on a building at 42nd. Street, NYC. During his time at Disney Beylerian created hundreds of designs for graphical use, products, furniture, toys, fashion, jewelry, sporting goods and even the napkins for Michael Eisner’s private jet. Beylerian went from the niche of the fine art market to creating for the mass market. He would also apprentice with Disney’s two top animators responsible for the line integrity of the 6 standard characters to learn techniques of instilling spirit into a drawn line. Beylerian was given an office with state of the art Apple computer technologies, allowing him to further develop skills in digital imaging (Computers were not household items yet). Both skills would later be integral influences in the development of Beylerian’s own studio and creative work flow.

1996 – Beylerian builds his childhood fantasy, an old school Harley Davidson shoveled chopper inspired from spending many hours staring at the album cover by Meatloaf, “Bat out of Hell”. With the help of a master mechanic who allowed Beylerian to be his apprentice thus the machine of his childhood dreams was assembled together. A rolling sculptural machine that continues till this day to give the rider the sensation as if they are flying like in their dreams.

1996 – Although Beylerian instrumentally was focused on drums and shamanic percussion, he had fallen in love with the discovery of an ancient instrument, the sound of the Duduk, an esoteric woodwind made from the Apricot tree, originating from the Highlands of Armenia. Beylerian finds a master teacher by auspicious circumstances for this rare instrument and devotes 7 years to it, eventually becoming part of a classic Duduk ensemble that recorded two albums and traveled internationally performing concerts.

1997 – Beylerian takes a sabbatical from Disney for two months and travels thru out India and Nepal, trekking thru the Himalayan Mountains. This adventure was extensively documented with Beylerian’s beloved Nikon F4 35mm film camera. During this adventure he would travel to Varanasi and drink a shamanic beverage stirred in a cauldron resembling a witches brew, within a strange cave like space. The next 10 hours were spent walking profoundly at Sarnath, a complex of temples where Buddha first lectured on the Sutras. Beylerian had a vision at this time, at the top of a stupa, seeing himself ready as a realized artist. It would be the strength of this insight that gave Beylerian the understanding that Disney would soon become the last Employer he would have.

1998 – Beylerian takes the leap and decides to honor his vision at Sarnath and live full time from the endeavors of his own creative Studio.

1998 – Beylerian straps a tent, sleeping bag and water jugs to his Harley chopper and rides to Burning Man with his Nikon F4 film camera documenting what would later become an international art phenomenon.

1999 – Due to the timing of an article written about Beylerian’s creative explorations merging various art mediums with cutting edge digital imaging and computer technologies, he lands a meeting with Gensler, the largest U.S. architectural firm and consequently receives a large scale mural commission for the Krikorian Theaters.

This project would become an example at the time for one of the largest printed works of art and was permanently installed in Monrovia, CA. Due to the success of these Murals, Beylerian would be commissioned over the next 4 years to do 12 more ultra large scale murals, 4 of which measured 30 feet by 40 feet, utilizing his same in studio developed process.

1999 – Beylerian travels to Cypress, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Palestine. With his beloved Nikon F4 35mm film camera, Beylerian documents ancient Egyptian architecture and art, climbs into a tomb deep within the pyramids of Giza, snorkels in the Sinai Desert, camps in the desert with Beduins from Petra and facilitates a drum circle with Jews and Palestinians together in the sub levels of The Sepulcher Church in Jerusalem.

2000 – Beylerian marries French artist and fashion designer Judith Bodart Beylerian in Paris after having dated for a total of 3 months (6 weeks and 6 weeks 7 years later). Together they would begin collaborating on life and numerous projects, commissions and exhibitions. Just before the wedding, Beylerian takes Jude to Jerusalem, makes a spontaneous visit to the office of the Bishop  for the Church of the Sepulcher and with a special permit obtained from the US government, Beylerian acquires earth from behind the Tomb of Christ under supervision by a holy priest. This priest places the small bag of earth on the Stone of Unction, blesses the earth and then blesses Greg and Jude. It was Good Friday and all things seeming quite auspicious, Beylerian officially proposes to Jude that night while sitting on a very old wall, facing an ancient cemetery.

2001 – The opening of Soul Train ( a reflection on choosing the intuitive path), Beylerian’s first solo exhibition, curated by Jacques Kaplan, a pioneering art dealer who collaborated with the likes of Frank Stella and Willem de Kooning. This collection of works included drawings, paintings, photographs, mixed media, hand made book of poetry and a soundtrack of the poems recited by a trained theatre actor with background sounds of duduk music performed by Beylerian and his Duduk master. This exhibition was presented inside the caboose of a train!

2002 – Beylerian’s second solo exhibition “Trust The Flow” presented at The Galaxy Gallery in Los Angeles represented the artists visual thesis of his creative process that he would later entitle “flow dynamics” and it’s influence on Aesthetics. Beylerian transformed the entire wall space into a collage built from hundreds of drawings and paintings, leaving no white space between works, creating a hyper active visual experience.

2003 – Permanently installed 4 new ultra large scale Murals measuring 30 feet by 40 feet at the luxurious Krikorian Theaters in Buena Park and Vista Village CA.

2004 – Exhibition of new works and highlights at The A.L.M.A. Museum in Boston, MA. 10,000 8.5”x11” drawings and words were hung from the ceiling in a web pattern representing the artist’s consciousness. Hung on walls were his new series of works entitled “Sacred Forms” which was a reflection into mythological language transformed. Presented on monolithic sculpture stands were numerous leather bound journals containing developmental sketches and transcendental meditations in line form.

2004 – Large scale installation of Photographs, paintings, sculptures and art car presented in the 20,000 square foot space of the H1 Gallery, Los Angeles. This exhibition represented examples of the artists last 10 years of work in various mediums.

2005 – “Origins” Solo exhibition presented at Seyhoun Gallery, Los Angeles. This series of artwork explored the roots of consciousness and the shaping of man and society thru the imagination. Opening night included a live ritual performance art piece with African drumming and two semi nude dancers who were painted in real time by Beylerian with his “Flow Dynamic” lines while surrounded by a packed crowd. This event was streamed live using new internet technologies that allowed viewers at home to interact with people at the gallery and experience the exhibition and performance remotely from anywhere in the world.

2005 – Receives honorable mention at the prestigious IPA Awards for a photographic work created from the “Origins” exhibition.

2005 – Murals featured in celebrated coffee table book about extraordinary Cinema architecture entitled, “Cinema Treasures”.

2005 – “Saint Genocide” 48”x60” built from 144 4”x5” prints becomes part of the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art, Yerevan.

2006 – Greg and Jude open The San Vicente Studio, located in West Hollywood, a street level creative space functioning as a studio, office and exhibition space to host happenings.

2006 – Travels to the south of France with wife and child and spends the summer in a 17th century stone house surrounded by vineyards. Beylerian brought camera gear, painting materials and audio recording equipment. A series of drawings and photographs were created and Beylerian would record a full length album of classic french Cafe music entitled “Cadenet” (the village they stayed in) with the musicians he lived with that summer.

2007 – Three sculptural works become part of the permanent collection at The Museum of Arts & Design, NYC.

2007 – Exhibits a new series of Portraits and paintings created with techniques developed from Cadenet, shown at Bachelier Cardonsky Gallery.

2007 – Power & Beauty installation exhibition at Seyhoun Gallery, Los Angeles. A collection of works that explores an inter – relationship between form and consciousness. This series of works included an art video, and large metallic printed pieces that were fused between acrylic. There was also a 420 page coffee table book with the same title that included social commentary writings, poetry, drawings and photographs the artist had created over the last 4 years.

2007 – Beylerian receives a special recognition from PX3 Photographie Paris for his photographic work on Human Form.

2007 – Completed the Peace Spiral mural Tapestry from photographs taken of 100’s of attendees who individually posed in a temporarily constructed studio at The Peace Forum held in Pasadena, CA. held over the weekend of 7/7/2007. The event was dedicated to “Local Reconciliation, Global Peace, A Forum on Forgiveness. Produced by long time collaborator Father Vazken Movsesian, founder of In His Shoes Organization. This project included survivors of the Rwandan Genocide and mothers of children murdered by gang warfare.

2008 – Faces & Forms exhibited at The Atelier, 42nd Street, NYC. – A collection of new works merging Beylerian’s “flow dynamics” line work with Photographed Portraits. A large wall collage of flow dynamic drawings and painting exercises were also exhibited.

2008 – Present “Returning To Roots” Exhibit at City Hall, Los Angeles, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo presents to Beylerian a certificate of recognition for artists contribution towards celebrating cultural diversity awareness.

2009 – “Divine Curvature” series of new works in development presented at The San Vicente Gallery, Los Angeles. This body of work deconstructs the human form to its elemental composition in search of higher cognition. Also playing on the word relevance with the dual meaning of “from or like a god and excellent, delightful”.

2010 – Greg and Jude construct “Highland Dream” an evolved solution to the Work – Life Studio concept, bridging the living space with the creative studio and office space all under separate roofs but one property.

2011 – Commissioned by Jockey to photograph a new Brand Campaign for their “Sport Mesh Series” This project would go on to win the American Graphic Design Award and demonstrate the successful collaboration of a fine art photographic vision in a commercial commerce context.

2012 – Studio commissioned to Photograph, project manage and style “Hungry For Life”, a coffee table book about the Homegirls journey of transformation thru Homeboy Industries. This is the most successful organization in the world that facilitates the transformation of gang members into positively contributing members of society. Multiple editions of the book have been printed due to its success and popularity.

2013 – Travels to Italy and France to photograph and create new series of works. Completes commission in Paris to transform partially damaged 19th century paintings into his “Discarded Legacy” series of works.

2014 – Travels throughout Armenia and Turkey to photograph and capture images to be used in constructing the 100 Year Journey Art project to be installed at The Zorayan Museum April 2015.

2014 – Travels back to Rochester Institute of Technology  by invitation to lecture at The Vignelli Center for Design Studies on “The Journey of living from a creative life”.

2015 – “The 100 Year Journey” A large scale comprehensive multi media installation project commissioned for the centennial of The Armenian Genocide and presented at the Zorayan Museum in Burbank, CA.. This project took over 2 years to complete, integrating photography, drawings, paintings, sculpture, sound and moving images. Due to its success, the city of Burbank would organize to have this installation reconstructed within the Burbank Mall, allowing the experience to be viewed more widely. This project involved extensive photographic journeying thru Armenia and Turkey.

2015 – The State Assembly of California awards a certificate of Recognition for the historical contribution of The 100 Year Journey.

2015 – Travels to Holland, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Germany and Denmark to photograph and capture images for new works of art. Photographed in detail the The Hermitage in Saint Petersburg Russia, one of the oldest museums in the world.

2016 – Completed the Dream Big project, a commissioned mixed media exterior mural located in Silverlake spanning 40 feet and incorporating the collaborating imaginations of 170 school children.

2016 – In development concurrently, three new series works, “BodyWorks”, “Ancient Future” and “Flow Dynamics”

2016 – The Totem Sculpture Garden, Commissioned by The International School. Silverlake, CA. A 50-foot circumference spatial 3D mural designed as a collaboration with 180 students to develop intuition. The completed works included painting, sculpture, spatial geometry, and landscaping to create a sanctuary centerpiece for the campus.

2018 – The Unveiled Series wins a prize from The International Photo Awards

2018 -The ELC Mural, Commissioned by The Early Learning Center. Silverlake, CA. 120 x 10 foot mural designed as a collaborative art project with children varying in age from 3 to 13 years of age. The project was designed to bring enjoyment and pride to all those who participated in the creation experience while transforming a bland play and learning environment into a beautiful and inspiring space.

2019 – Come Together Mural, Commissioned by The International School. Burbank, CA. 60 x 10 foot mural designed as a collaborative art project with the entire 8th grade to develop flow dynamics of imagination, courage, and commitment. Essential qualities to live a life rich with purpose.

2020 – 7 Lexlive Murals, Commissioned by Krikorian Premiere Theaters. Lexington, ky. Seven 15 x 8 foot murals designed a new one-of-a-kind 90,000 square foot entertainment venue with 10 Movie Theatres, 13 state-of-the-art bowling lanes, a restaurant, three full-service bars and event space. Architect: TK Architects.