Background
Arshak Sarkissian was born in Gyumri, Armenia, in the family of artist Ararat Sarkissian.
Arshak Sarkissian was born in Gyumri, Armenia, in the family of artist Ararat Sarkissian.
1998 he graduated from National Aesthetic Center of art, Yerevan, Armenia, 2001-2002 Postgraduary Cyprus College of Art, Paphos, Cyprus.
After the earthquake of 1988 he moved to Yerevan. Arshak designed the interior of passenger terminals in Zvartnots Armenia International Airport. Arshak 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.
Arshak Sarkissian"s name is among the Verfhon"s 2014 List of Painters
Since 1999 Arshak Sarkissian"s works have been exhibited throughout the world.
Solo
1999 National Aesthetic Center of Art, Armenia
2000 Opus 39, Nicosia, Cyprus
2004 Opus 39, Nicosia, Cyprus
2005 Academy, Yerevan, Armenia
2009 Albemarle, United Kingdom, London
2010 Mildberry, Russia, Moscow
2010 Gavriel, Germany.Bremen
2011 Opus 39, Nicosia, Cyprus
2012 Antikyan, Yerevan, Armenia
Group Exhibitions
1997 Zircular 5, Modern Art Museum, Yerevan, Armenia
1998 Take lieutenant, 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, Limassol, Cyprus
2005 Edwar’s Fine Arts San Francisco, United States of America
2005 5th Gyumri International Biennial, Armenia
2006 Marie Pavgas, Art, Arsheville, North Carolina, United States of America
2007 Harvest California, United States of America
2008 Center for contemporary Experimental Art, Armenia
2013 Charlie Smith, London Anthology, UK
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 medical
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. lieutenant 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.