In spite of being ancient-long Christian country Armenia lacks normal portraits of Mother Mary in its churches, painter Sargis Hamalbashyan said speaking to Tert.am. He said it is not the painter’s guilt but the client’s.

“The wonderful Madonna’s paintings in Italy are done thanks to clients’ demand of high-quality work. We have the reproduction of Vardges Surenyants work being copied and put in all churches. We lack a client that will demand a normal Madonna painting,” he said.

Asked whether the Armenian painting is good enough to produce high value art works, Hamalbashyan said our painting is competitive. “It is just necessary to pay greater attention and give it an opportunity to be presented to the world at its worth,” he said, stressing that separate individuals are trying to assist but a state support is necessary.

“It is like having a mine but not be able to use it in a right way. It is necessary to present our work to the world on a tray which needs applying special mechanisms,” he said, adding that Armenia’s culture ministry does not imagine how it should be done. The artist even considered it senseless to apply to the ministry with the issue, saying it will bring to nothing.