Arshak Sarkissian

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]

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

• 2005 Presidential Gold Medal for Fine Arts

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.

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  The week of madness oil on canvas 200x300cm 2003
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  Sharp sound oil on cnavas 80x110cm 2003
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  Leigh bowery oil on canvas 150x200cm 2003
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  Carnival oil on canvas 170x240cm 2006
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  Rude-enjoyment-ink-on-paper-55x75cm-2012
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  Grandfather ink on paper 55x75 2000
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  Will 75x100cm in on paper 2009
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  Costume, 172x160x30cm mixed fabric 2011
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  Old Dancer 42x26x14cm bronze patina13 200
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  Pig Brusher 31x23x30cm bronze patina 2010

• List of Armenian artists
• List of Armenians
• Culture of Armenia

• Arshak Sarkissian, official page
• Saarchi Art, Arshak Sarkissian
• The Week of Madness by Arshak Sarkissian
• Gyumri Artist Takes on The United Kingdom