Krikor Khandjian began his career as a genre painter. His canvases and early illustrations for books by Armenian writers and poets revealed the artist's bent for lyricism and a sharp eye for love of minute detail. Already in his illustrations for Tumanian's poem Sako of Lori (1957) the master displayed temperament, expressiveness, and great skill in representing highly dramatic scenes in addition to a complete lack of shyness in rendering multifigured compositions filled with dynamism and tension. In later years Khandjian used this style to execute themes of a different inner meaning: the history of Armenia becomes the main subject matter of his work.

    The historical concept of his native people was forming gradually in the artist's mind, gaining maturity and completeness with the passage of years. His interpretation of historical themes becomes clear in his illustrations for Abovian's novel Armenia's Wounds, in his presentation of the tragic events described in the book, of the masses involved in those events and in his accentuation of the hero's figure leading his people. The Epic-of-Heroism theme is treated here along with the Self-Sacrifice motif. In the black-and-white pages, the deeds and nature of Agasi, the principal hero of the novel, are presented with romantic élan and inscription.

    In the book design field Khandjian distinguished himself next with his illustrations of Sevak's poem The Ever-Tolling Bell Tower. The illustrations brought to light another aspect of Armenia's history. The central figure of the poem is the composer Komitas, its main theme is the story of his life and death. Komitas shared with his people the tragedy of the 1915 massacre of the Armenian population in Turkey. The illustrations were inspired by and dealt with the facts of the composer's fate. As designed by Khandjian, the poem became an indispensable book in each household in Armenia. The artist treated the subject on a par with the author helping to retain in the reader's memory the vivid image of the hero and his own view on the tragedy.

    The exhibition of Khandjian's recent cartoon for tapestries on the best known events of national history became a landmark in Armenia's art life. The cartoons depicted the battle-scene of the 541 A.D. war waged by Prince Vardan Mamikonian with the Persians and the invention of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots in the fifth century. Khandjian executed the battle-scene with the sweep of a classic battle painting displaying a superb skill in brush and color handling. The cartoon left a profound impression upon the viewers. By a happy stroke of his imagination the artist placed outstanding cultural figures of Armenia's past and present history. Easily recognized by viewers, they were thus honored and given their due in art. The implication was clear to the public - everybody who has contributed to his or her native culture is a combatant in the people's battle for its life, dignity, and national identity.

    The response of the viewers to those cartoons was so enthusiastic that it was deemed necessary to reproduce them as huge frescoes in a special hall of a cultural center under final construction in Yerevan, Armenia's capital. It is noteworthy that Khandjian owes the success of his book illustrations and of his cartoons - tapestries were made after them in France in 1985 - not only to his pictorial skills and the plastic authenticity of his art. It also springs form the artist's overtly didactical treatment of the theme and of those involved in the events he depicts. He shows the hero as the symbol of light and the hero's enemies as the embodiment of evil. The chords struck by the painter in his viewers' hearts unite them all without exception in acclaim for his work.

    Khandjian's art never impresses one as a product of straightforward spontaneity - it bears witness to the artist's prolonged pondering of the landmarks in Armenian history and those who make it. The artist cast a modern man's look upon historical events he deals with and evaluates them in the light of the spiritual experience of the twentieth century. Of exceptional interest in this respect are the graphic travel sheets done by Khandjian during his trips to Italy, Spain, and Mexico. These are much more significant than just sketch-book drawings - they are pictures drawn by an observer overwhelmed by his impression. The artist is concerned with human drama no matter where he comes across it. A Chronicle of Our Day is the title of a series of lithographs made by him in 1972. The series, in a way, sums up the observations and the reflections of Khandjian as a mature master. His close contacts with Spanish and Mexican cultures brought forth a new line in the artist's treatment of motifs inherent in his art - now passion and overtness made themselves felt in them. These contacts stood him in good stead elsewhere as well - in 1978 Khandjian made stage designs for Lorca's Bloody Wedding performance in one of Armenia's main theaters.

    Paintings be Grigor Khandjian are intimately linked with the graphic art pieces executed by him. In them one finds the best of that master's art: Bold preoccupation with the most important and sensitive problems of the day, a bent for presenting complex relationships, and lyricism. His idiom amply manifests itself in Sunflowers (1975), Grain Crops in the Mountains (1972) and Homecoming (1975). But from the mid-seventies onwards still life has become the leading form in Khandjian's work.

    These fall easily into groups, each having its own theme, ideas and implications. One is a set of rural still lifes presenting peasant household articles and fruit accentuating their charm and simplicity and putting across the idea of the specific pleasure of living in close proximity to nature. Another set of still lifes caries insets with reproductions of works of art by Botticelli, Michelangelo, Vrubel, Rodin, and Manzú. These insets give the spectator a clue to understanding the artist's studio with such objects as stretch bars, canvases, rolls of paper, and pieces of sculpture. These assume a spiritual meaning, inert materials as they are, before our very eyes, while the cast of a human mind, appearing in many compositions and identified with Khandjian's own hand, conveys to us the idea that high art is the making by human hands with man's imagination and skill.

    Since the seventies the artist's passion for folk art has manifested itself in numerous still lifes and in some larger compositions. It led Khandjian to taking an actively practical part in the revival of the traditional folk crafts in Armenia. He was helpful in renewing the production of forged wrought-iron gates and metal lamps as well as various wood-carved items.

    Reproducing in his creativity the best traditions of Armenian art and endowed with a wide scope of ideographic vision, Khandjian is thus able to address himself to a multinational viewing public.