Arshak Sarkissian

Arshak Sarkissian
Արշակ Սարգսյան
Arshak Sarkissian; Արշակ Սարգսյան
Born	Arshak Sarkissian; December 26, 1981 (age 42); Gyumri, Armenia
Nationality	Armenian
Known for	Painter

Arshak Sarkissian (Armenian: Արշակ Սարգսյան; born December 26, 1981 in Gyumri), is an Armenian painter artist.

Biography

Arshak Sarkissian was born in Gyumri, Armenia, in the family of artist Ararat Sarkissian. After the 1988 Armenian earthquake, he moved to Yerevan.

In 1998, he graduated from National Aesthetic Center of art, Yerevan, Armenia, 2001–2002 Postgraduary Cyprus College of Art, Paphos, Cyprus.

Sarkissian designed the interior of passenger terminals in Zvartnots International Airport. Sarkissian's sprawling, densely populated canvases depict the sacred and the profane of a society in giddy flux, hungry for self-discovery and meaningful transformation. Sarkissian distills the fierce energies of an eclectic metropolis into tightly-woven pastiches, in which the street life of the downtrodden and behind-the-curtain abandon of bacchanalian beauties at turns collide and converge. His drawings exhibit a complexity and subtlety that exceed imagination; he is one of the few artists capable of creating vast canvasses with multiple figures and complex structure. As a painter he is, at the same time, an anthropologist of states of mind. He depicts animals along with his characters, a fact that also leaves room to physiognomic confusing interpretations.

Sarkissian's name is among the Verfhon's 2014 List of Painters.^[1]

Exhibitions

Since 1999 Arshak Sarkissian's works have been exhibited throughout the world.

Solo Exhibitions

2018 Tufenkian Fine Arts, California
1999 National Aesthetic Center of Art, Armenia
2000 Opus 39, Nicosia, Cyprus^[2]
2004 Opus 39, Nicosia, Cyprus
2005 Academy Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2009 Albemarle Gallery, UK, London^[3]^[4]
2010 Mildberry Gallery, Russia, Moscow
2010 Gavriel Gallery, Germany.Bremen
2011 Opus 39, Nicosia, Cyprus
2012 Antikyan Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia^[5]
2016 AS Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Group Exhibitions

1997 Zircular 5, Modern Art Museum, Yerevan, Armenia
1998 Take It, Center of Modern and Experimental Art, Yerevan, Armenia
1998 1st Gyumri International Biennial, Armenia
1999 "Mind Fanatics", ACCEA, Yerevan, Armenia
2000 ACCEA Virtual Art, Yerevan, Armenia
2000 2nd International Biennial Gyumri, Armenia
2002 Morphi Gallery, Limassol, Cyprus
2005 Edwar's Fine Arts Gallery San Francisco, United States
2005 5th Gyumri International Biennial, Armenia
2006 Marie Pavgas, Art Gallery, Arsheville, North Carolina, USA
2007 Harvest Gallery. California, USA
2008 Center for contemporary Experimental Art, Armenia
2013 Charlie Smith Gallery, London Anthology, UK

Awards

2005 Presidential Gold Medal for Fine Arts

Quotes from Arshak Sarkissian

In historical paintings you may see very different levels of importance were given to the face of a king, for example, and to his dog. I am more of a documental artist. Beautiful and ugly are the same to me. Every image—man, woman, child, pair of shoes, gets the same attention.
My work is about the idea of someone, their personality, the atmosphere they create. It is not about what they are doing but what they make you feel. When you look at them, you don't think about what their names are. You conceive the concept of two people holding hands.