Hany Armanious (born 1962) is an Egyptian born, Australian artist who lives and works in Sydney. Armanious produces installations and sculptural forms, as well as paintings and drawings.

Life and work

Hany Armanious was born in Ismailia, Egypt and migrated to Australia with his family at the age of 6. He completed his schooling in Australia and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts) degree from the City Art Institute, Sydney and a doctorate in Creative Arts from the University of Wollongong. ) Since 2019 he has been Head of Sculpture at the National Art School in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. In the early nineties Armanious considered a ‘key figure’ in a number of artists who critics noted as being influenced by the grunge movement. Although born in Egypt and conscious of its cultural ties Armanious’s work does not specifically reference that culture. He has been described as an artist who can 're-describe objects' using ‘poor materials’. As his practice has developed Armanious has achieved this goal through making moulds of ordinary objects and replicating them as parts of completed works. As Armonious has himself said, ‘…my interest in casting partly grew from a technique in my painting that utilized contact prints. Casting is like three-dimensional printmaking.“ Casting has now become central; to Armanious’s work and a ‘key strategy’ that allows him to bring almost any object that catches his eye into the studio and via casting to the exhibition space ‘refiguring elements and processes both literally and metaphorically’. In constructing and assembling his cast sculptures Armanious infuses and even ‘exploits’ the humorous potential brought to play on his work through the human need to find meaning within complicated and even abstract forms - the isomorphic condition that prompts us to find images and meaning in inkblots, clouds and other abstract combinations. The success of this idea can be seen in Australian art critic Rex Butler's descriptions of three plastic shopping bags Armanious presented as the work Ladybug (Pornament) in 1993. Butler looks at the work and questions whether they resemble a green skirt and white blazer, inverted pantyhose, or perhaps ‘a man crucified head down and arms wide like St. Peter’.

Exhibitions

Armanious has shown with a number of dealer galleries and currently exhibits with Michael Lett in Auckland, Fine Arts, Sydney and Southard Reid in London. He has also shown with Foxy Production in New York, Sarah Cottier Gallery and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney, Galleria Raucci/Santamaria, Naples and the Galerie Allen in Paris. Selected exhibitions in public art institutions:

Note

For a full list of Hany Armanious exhibitions go here

Collections

Awards

1998 Moët et Chandon fellowship 2004 Artist in residence, Elam School of Fine Arts International Arts Residency Programme, Auckland.