Ararat Sarkissian

Ararat Sarkissian is more concerned about the retention of experience, of identity and of memory. He wants to preserve something of value after the dust has settled, ‘For me,’ he writes, ‘the human experience, amassed during the course of thousands of years, is tremendously important.’ He implies that when we lose our memory –of where we came from, of who we are, and of our purpose, we become worthless objects susceptible to possession by negative forces. Sarkissian’s work, post modern, conceptual, and abstract in part, makes reference to ancient cultures, and not only to the important medieval tradition of Armenian illuminated manuscripts, but also to the wider art of medieval and renaissance Europe.
Having survived a major obliteration of collective memory, the 1988 earthquake which destroyed his beloved city of Gyumri, Sarkissian tries preserve and evoke a vanished past, in that hope that it may illuminate our future. Gurdjieff, part heroic man of action, part mystic teacher, was also a native of Gyumri, and one of the most enigmatic men of this century.

His whole evolutionary psychology was based on the premise that we are all asleep, and a true waking consciousness must be developed through self-remembering. Sarkissian’s m...

Born: 1956, Gyumri, Armenia.

Education: School of Fine Arts, Gyumri; Panos Terlemezian Fine Arts College, Yerevan,

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2015 Where to Search for Paradise, 11.12 Gallery, Singapore

2014 Caucasus Cultural days, Seoul,Korea

2013 55th Venice Art Biennale, Vencice, Italy

2012 Antikyan Gallery , Armenia, Yerevan (ongoing)

2012 International Book Fair, Minsk,Belarus

2012 International Book Fair, Sankt Peterburk, Russia

2012 International Book Fair,Thessaloniki, Greece

2012 Bergen Commuity College Armenian Genocide Exhibit‏,New Jersey,US

2011 International Book Fair ,Geneva, Swiss

2011 Genre dimension book, Armenia, Yerevan

2011 Constitution and Art, Yerevan,Armenia

2011 Charity Auction of Contemporary Armenian Art, Cristie’s

2010 “Body: New Figurative Art”, Yerevan,Armenia

2010 Armenian New Art “Optimizm”, Yerevan, Armenia

2009 Art Vilnius, European Capital of Culture

2009 “Armenian Still Life” Academia Gallery, Armenia.Yerevan

2008 I Colori Dell’ Armenia, Castel Sant Angelo, Rome, Italy

2007 Art Contemporaine d’Arménie, Orangerie du Luxembourg, Paris
2006 TGAA Marzuki Gallery Chicago
2004 Fourth Biennale of Gyumri
2002 Multitude, Artists Space, New York
2001 Contemporary Art of Armenia, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran
1999 Stream of Fire: New Art From Armenia, Jordan...