ANGELS TO HIT THE HIGHWAY ARTIST TO MAKE WORK DRIVER-ACCESSIBLE.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

GLENDALE - Inside a cavernous garage converted into a chic art studio, a bold artistic statement is emerging.

Artist Zadik Zadikian, 54, is working on a dozen paintings of angels, each 12 feet by 24 feet, that will be mounted on the sides of seven trucks for a statewide road exhibit this fall.

The trucks will travel for 30 days in unison, like an ancient caravan of camels, over California's highways and streets, through big cities and small towns.

``This is a genuine art exhibit. You are not going to the museum. The museum is coming to you,'' said Zadikian, whose goal is to liberate art from galleries and museums and bring it to the masses.

``The artists should come out of their shells - from galleries and museums I think are obsolete,'' he said. ``How many people go to galleries and museums today? Projects like this can reach millions.''

Why angels?

Zadikian, who lived in Armenia until age 19, said he was inspired by illustrated Armenian manuscripts dating from the ninth to 14th centuries.

``They were very simple artwork. They contained this incredible, entrancing value of belief,'' he said. ``I am just going back 1,000 years in time and bringing back some values of art that gave fantastic hope to society then.''

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, Zadikian believes his work has taken on a new relevance. He plans for the caravan to arrive in Sacramento on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

``Everyone has a guardian angel,'' he said. ``At this time, we need some kind of hope. We just don't want any harder images to add to the tension.

``The angels will bring serenity and peacefulness to this chaotic time.''

Zadikian has patterned his angel images after a variety of styles found in different periods and regions of Armenia. The paintings he has completed so far feature highly stylized figures, each with a different expression.

The colors used in his work range from strong shades of gold and purple to blue and pink. The original paintings will be mounted on plywood on both sides of flat-bed trucks.

Artist Charles Garabedian, who is lending his hand to the project, is sure it will create a stir.

``The image of seven trucks driving along with art on them is very intriguing,'' said Garabedian, who is painting two canvases for the road exhibit.

``There are a lot of people who have never looked at or thought of art this way. They can look at it and see it as not an unfriendly kind of thing - that it's accessible to them.''

Already, Garabedian said the project has created some buzz in the arts community.

However, no date has been set on when the tour will start. Zadikian is trying to raise $500,000 to fund the project. So far a private donor has given him $50,000. The city of Glendale donated the garage space for $1.

A handsome and passionate man with penetrating eyes and wavy salt- and-pepper hair, Zadikian admitted his project is ambitious but he is prepared to make do with what he has.

In his mind's eye, he can already see a new art form emerging from the tour.

``I am curious how the elements are going to interact with the art,'' he said. ``I cannot possibly paint the way the sun is going to do its work.''

Zadikian said he will make no effort to prevent taggers from adding graffiti to the art.

``I want this thing to pass through a lot of ghettos,'' he said. ``The street gangs, they haven't seen culture. They've never had a chance since birth.

``If they go out just to graffiti, I have no problem. They will paint their mark of expression.''

Zadikian plans to document the journey with a videotape and release it to television stations for broadcast.

When the trip is over, he will have an exhibit at the Pasadena Armory. Ultimately, he wants the work to tour in Armenia and be housed permanently there.

For information on the project, visit www.caravanproject.com.

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Artist Zadik Zadikian of Glendale plans to mount his paintings of angels, and those of another artist, on a convoy of trucks and display them on roads and highways across the state.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer