Arthur Sarkissian was born in 1960 in Gyumri, Armenia. Sarkissian attended the School of Fine Arts there in 1977, followed by the Yerevan State Pedagogical University (Drawing) in 1989. He lives and works in Yerevan, Armenia.
Sarkissian works in abstract art as a statement of post-soviet freedom of expression. He said in 2005, "my approach to painting developed from the desire to free myself from Socialist Realism."
His canvases combine painting and silkscreen printing, incorporating text, photographs, signs, architectural images and extracts from other paintings, fusing oil paint with found ephemera
Such a polyglot, polysemic art is not unique to Sarkissian. We see his style anticipated by Robert Rauschenberg, and before him Kurt Schwitters. We even see its textures and practices, as well as philosophical positions, reflected in the work of such disparate predecessors as Warhol, Cornell, Miro, Malevich, and, of course, Picasso. Among other things, Sarkissian demonstrates that the “collage aesthetic” – the simultaneously disjunctive and conjunctive qualities that uniquely define modern composition – remains one of 20th century art’s most significant and enduring legacies. Indeed, this collage aesthetic provides the perceptual crucible in which the dialectic described above is forged, and it defines the particular visual world in which Sarkissian finds his expression.
His installation artwork includes the work Closed Session, comprising a row of seven chairs of varying sizes, each standing on four lit lightbulbs; described by Sonia Balassanian, curator of the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (ACCEA), as a "satirical reference to self-aggrandizing decision-makers."
His work is displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in Yerevan.
Solo exhibitions:
- 1994 – Bossen Cultural Center, Saarbrücken, Germany
- 1998 – JNR Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
- 2003 – Mind Games, First Floor Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
- 2006 – First Floor Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
- 2008 – Museum of Modern Art, Yerevan, Armenia
- 2009 – Between The Images, One Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
- 2010 – Between The Images 2, 1927 Gallery, Fine Arts Building, Los Angeles, California
- 2010 - Between The Images 3, Artology Gallery 101, Los Angeles, California
- 2013 - "Artist Retrospective 2011–2013 and Catalogue Presentation" Dalan Art Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
Group exhibitions:
- 1989 – "Art of the USSR: The Past 50 Years", Madrid, Spain Catalogues
- 1991 – "New Tendencies in Art", Goyak Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
- 1991 – "Contemporary Art From Armenia", The New Academy Gallery, London, UK
- 1992 – "Contemporary Armenian Artists", Gallery Vision, Kassel, Germany
- 1992 – "Armenian Post-Modernism", Moscow, Russia
- 1997 – "Dreams & Visions", Art Benefit, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- 1999 – "Windows to Armenia" and "With Many Voices", Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Illinois, US
- 2005 – "Armenian Contemporary Art", Harvest Gallery, Glendale, CA, USA
- 2005 – Marie Pargas Art Gallery, Asheville, NC, USA
- 2005 – The Collection Of Viken Makhyan, AGBU Pasadena Center, USA
- 2005 – "Photo Plus", ACCEA, Yerevan, Armenia
- 2006 – "Art Without Borders", Havana Gallery, Oldenburg, Germany
- 2007 – "Armenian Landscapes in Contemporary Art", EWZ, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2007 – "5 Armenian Artists", Marcel, France
- 2007 – "Armenian Contemporary Art", Paris, France
- 2008 – "Undercurrent Shifts", ACCEA, curated by Sonia Balassanian & David Kareyan
- 2009 – "Transitional Hypothesis", group exhibition of Armenian-Japanese artists, ACCEA
- 2010 - "Colors of Armenia Exhibition" Yerevan, Armenia
- 2010 - "Colors of Armenia Exhibition" Marseille, France
- 2010 - "OPTIMIZM, Armenian New Art" Artists Union, Yerevan, Armenia
- 2011 - "Art Cube Gallery" Group Exhibition Laguna Beach, California, USA
- 2011 - "Dalan Art Gallery" Group Exhibition Yerevan, Armenia
- 2013 - "Dalan Art Gallery" Group Exhibition New Local Art, Yerevan, Armenia
- 2013 - "Saatchi Gallery" Burning Bright at Hyatt Regency London – London, UK