Zadik Zadikian

"Known for his extensive use of gold and other metal leaf to create surfaces that are aesthetically, conceptually, and even politically charged, Zadikian’s presence at the Produce Market has also manifested a sort of revisiting of his 1975 NYC “Gold Spaces” projects undertaken at PS1 and his Jay Street studio, wherein he gives the whole of the interior an impossibly lavish, sensual, otherworldly gold skin of fluttering leaf. It takes forever, advancing through the space like a fairy-dust glacier, wrapping every nook and pipe and brick and cornice in its fluttering, flirty, rococo embrace.

For Zadikian, gold paint and especially gold leaf is not an imitation or an image, it is something more direct. Both natural and unnatural, its rough edges are constantly animated by the slightest breeze and shifting ambient light. It speaks to eternity, but it changes every day as the patination of its copper oxidizes and slowly turns blue-black. And gold forms are also about surface, in that the light catches every nook, every so-called imperfection in its skin. As a formal choice, this is a flaw that Zadikian sees as a feature, creating subversion, drama, and passion in the dissonance. Besides the walls, the studio hosts a glimmering meteor ...

1974-75 - Assisted Richard Serra in creation of “Black” drawings, New York
1970 - Art Academy of Rome
1970-71 - Assistant to Benjamin Bufano, San Francisco
1969-70 - Art Academy of Rome, Italy
1965-66 - Istanbul Art Academy, Turkey
1960-65 - Panos Terlemezian Art Academy, Yerevan, Armenia
1950-60 - Children’s Palace Dept. of Sculpture, Yerevan, Armenia

Solo Exhibitions

2012 - Maloney Fine Art, California
1995 - Janarte Galerie, Pasadena, California
1995 - Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York
1988 - Holly Street Gallery, Pasadena, California
1985 - Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California
1980 - Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
1979 - Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
1978 - Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Tehran, Iran
1977 - P.S.1, New York
1976 - 9 Jay Street, New York
1974 - 112 Greene Gallery, New York
1973 - 112 Greene Gallery, New York
1972 - Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles
1970 - Gallery La Casapanca, Rome, Italy

Group Exhibitions

2014 - The Loft at Liz's, California
2014 - Melissa Morgan Fine Art, California
2013 - The Loft at Liz's, California
2012 - Maloney Fine Art, California
2011 - Art Dubai, Etemad Gallery, Dubai
2008 - Tom Otterness Studio, New York
1996 - Janarte Galerie, Pasadena, California
1995 - Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York
1992 - Presunic Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Israel
1992 - Presunic Gallery, Paris, France
1991 - Presunic Gallery, New York
1987 - Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
1986 - Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
1984 - Vine St. Studios, Los Angeles
1984 - Creative Studies Gallery, University of California, Santa Barbara
1983 ...