Hrair Sarkissian
Untitled (Unfinished Series), 2007
lamda print mounted on aluminium
150 x 100 cm
Courtesy Kalfayan Galleries, Athens - Thessaloniki

Hrair Sarkissian
Untitled (Unfinished Series), 2005
lamda print mounted on aluminium
120 x 140 cm
Courtesy Kalfayan Galleries, Athens - Thessaloniki

Hrair Sarkissian
Untitled (Unfinished Series), 2007
lamda print mounted on aluminium
100 x 150 cm
Courtesy Kalfayan Galleries, Athens - Thessaloniki

“Unfinished” by Hrair Sarkissian

On Thursday, 13 March, 2008 between 19:30 and 22:00, Kalfayan Galleries, 11 Haritos Str., Kolonaki, Athens, are presenting the opening of the exhibition of Hrair Sarkissian with photographs from the project “Unfinished”.

In his carefully structured compositions, Sarkissian explores the subjective role of colors, how they can evoke a state of mind and pull us out of a conventional way of seeing the world around us. The photographs in this series focus on the traces of human presence or absence as they are marked each time on the landscape and the architecture. Sarkissian uses frontal shots, light, and composition in such a way as to emphasize the theatricality of these bare places, thus transporting us out of time to a dreamy and silent place that acts as a mirror and a refuge for the self, and enable us to look inwards at ourselves.

Using a vocabulary which is sometimes poetic and sometimes closer to documentary, these photographs feature Damascus and Amman as seen through the artist’s photographic lenses. The total absence of people underlines the oxymoron of the nature of the abandoned buildings, relics where human presence was once dominant, by the fact that these are constructions erected by and for men.

According to Sarkissian the perspective on cities presented in Unfinished - “is altogether different, as it departs from traditional forms and structures, shunning any kind of orientalism. These pictures were taken in places undergoing change. Buildings under construction are shown as uncompleted monuments, often unnoticed, which only become briefly present while they appear on the landscape and the image”.

An Armenian photographer based in Damascus where he was born, Sarkissian has exhibited widely in the Middle East and Europe. After having completed a residency in Amman, Jordan, organised by the French Cultural Institute and having participated in the project ”Here as the Center of the World”, which was organised by the DAI (Dutch Art Institute) in Holland, he completed a residency organised by Pro Helvetia in Arbeitsgruppe Gästeatelier Krone in Aarau, Switzerland. Currently, his works are being shown in “Constructio”, a group exhibition at Galeria Antonio de Barnola in Barcelona. In March, Kalfayan Galleries will be presenting the artist’s works at Art Dubai.

Opening: Thursday, 13 March 2008, 19:30 – 22:00
SCHEDULE
Monday, Saturday: 10.00 - 15.00
Tuesday to Friday: 10.00 – 20.00