Peter Frank: Arthur Sarkissian’s paintings "talk" to us in several visual languages at once

PanARMENIAN.Net - Arthur Sarkissian’s exhibition is a rare opportunity to view many of the famed artist's finest works at the 1927 Gallery in The Fine Arts Building in downtown Los Angeles. The opening reception will be held on March 11th from 5:30 to 9:00, in connection with the Downtown Art Walk. The exhibition will remain on display through April 2nd.

Sarkissian's works point to the past and bridge a gap between the then and now, the past and present. He juxtaposes old photographs, letters, and pictures with vivid colors and metaphors of our present times. His works are culturally and historically saturated. His process includes several layers of silkscreen, brush strokes, and spatula applied paint.

Peter Frank expressed in Sarkissian's 2006 catalogue: "Above all, Sarkissian's is an art of transition, a demonstration of the flow of human experience from the felt to the known, from the intuited to the studied, and back again. Sarkissian's paintings are at once wholes and sums of parts, and they "talk" to us in several visual languages at once."

Born in 1960 in Gyumri, Armenia, Arthur Sarkissian attended the School of Fine Arts in his native city, followed by the Armenian Pedagogical University (Drawing Department) in 1989. He lives and works in Yerevan, Armenia.

Sarkissian works in abstract art as a statement of post-soviet freedom of expression. His canvases combine painting and silkscreen printing, incorporating text, photographs, signs, architectural images and extracts from other paintings, fusing oil paint with found ephemera.