Sarkis

Sarkis (Sarkis Zabunyan) was born in Istanbul in 1938 and lives and works in Paris.  

Initially trained as a painter, Sarkis’s practice has increasingly expanded into sculpture and installation. He works with what he calls “hard” materials, such as tar, water, steel, and heat, each carrying a strong symbolic charge. He combines these elements with theatre and music, as well as with his interest in the work of Joseph Beuys and Conceptual Art. Sarkis has developed a distinctive visual vocabulary around the concept of Kriegschatz—the spoils of war—which is central to his practice and informs his combinations of objects from different cultures.  

At Atelier Calder, Sarkis produced a series of videos, each introduced by one of 25 screens bearing the title “Au commencement…” (“In the beginning …”). Made with remarkable economy and simplicity, the films are lyrical, evoking the qualities of watercolor: color spreading through water, solid matter becoming liquid, a sheet of paper slowly burning. Daylight becomes part of the imagery, while different pieces of music provide the soundtrack.