Contemporary Armenian Surrealist Painter
Born
December 26, 1981
Gyumri, Armenia
Based
Yerevan, Armenia
London, UK
Education
National Aesthetic Center of Art, Yerevan
Cyprus College of Art
Medium
Painting, drawing, sculpture
Known For
Surrealist figurative art
Collections
Vatican Museum, Modern Art Museum Yerevan
Arshak Sarkissian (Armenian: Արշակ Սարգսյան; born December 26, 1981) is a contemporary Armenian painter internationally recognized for his surrealist figurative works that merge human and animal forms in fantastical compositions. Born in Gyumri and now maintaining studios in both Yerevan, Armenia and London, UK, Arshak Sarkissian creates psychologically complex paintings that draw upon medieval Armenian artistic traditions, Armenian miniature painting, and the visionary imagery of Hieronymus Bosch.
Early Life and the 1988 Earthquake
Arshak Sarkissian was born on December 26, 1981, in Gyumri, Armenia’s second-largest city, located in the northwestern Shirak Province. Arshak Sarkissian was born into an artistic family—his father, Ararat Sarkissian, was one of Yerevan’s most respected painters, providing the young artist with early exposure to professional artistic practice and rigorous technical training from childhood.
When Arshak Sarkissian was just seven years old, the devastating Spitak earthquake struck Armenia on December 7, 1988, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale. This catastrophic natural disaster killed approximately 25,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless across northwestern Armenia. Gyumri, where Arshak Sarkissian lived with his family, suffered extensive damage, with most of the city’s buildings either destroyed or severely compromised.
The 1988 earthquake profoundly shaped Arshak Sarkissian’s psychological development and artistic sensibility. Following the disaster, Gyumri descended into a period of severe deprivation—the city lacked adequate heating, electricity was unreliable, and the social fabric was devastated by the loss of life and destruction of infrastructure. In this post-apocalyptic environment, Arshak Sarkissian’s childhood imagination developed amid ruins, makeshift shelters, and the collective trauma experienced by the city’s surviving population.
After the earthquake, Arshak Sarkissian’s family relocated to Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, where they could access better resources and where his father could continue his painting career. This move exposed the young Arshak Sarkissian to Yerevan’s more established artistic community while the memories of devastated Gyumri remained central to his developing worldview.
“All objects that appear in my paintings, whether animate or inanimate, are treated as animate beings endowed with intellect.”
Arshak Sarkissian
Artistic Training Under Ararat Sarkissian
Arshak Sarkissian’s father, Ararat Sarkissian, approached his son’s artistic education with Old Master rigor. Unlike the permissive, self-exploratory pedagogy common in contemporary art education, Ararat Sarkissian trained young Arshak Sarkissian through strict technical discipline, teaching him drawing, etching, and printmaking with exacting standards modeled on traditional academic methods.
During the years following the earthquake, when Arshak Sarkissian was still living in devastated Gyumri, his father sent him out at night to sketch the city’s scenes—wooden houses illuminated by dim light, nocturnal characters moving through darkened streets, the eerie atmosphere of a city struggling to survive. These nighttime drawing expeditions, conducted in conditions of severe cold and deprivation, developed Arshak Sarkissian’s ability to work from direct observation while cultivating his imaginative capacity to see beyond literal appearances into psychological and symbolic dimensions.
This early training instilled in Arshak Sarkissian the technical foundation necessary for his mature surrealist practice. The rigorous drawing discipline imposed by his father gave Arshak Sarkissian complete command of figure construction, spatial relationships, and the rendering of complex forms—skills that would later enable him to create fantastical hybrid creatures and surreal compositions with convincing anatomical logic.
Formal Education and Development
From 1993 to 1998, Arshak Sarkissian studied at the National Aesthetic Center of Art in Yerevan, one of Armenia’s premier institutions for training young artists. At this specialized arts school, Arshak Sarkissian received comprehensive education in drawing, painting, art history, and theoretical frameworks for understanding visual culture. The National Aesthetic Center provided Arshak Sarkissian with exposure to both traditional Armenian artistic heritage and international contemporary art movements.
Following his studies in Yerevan, Arshak Sarkissian pursued postgraduate education at the Cyprus College of Art in Paphos, Cyprus, from 2001 to 2002. This international study experience exposed Arshak Sarkissian to Mediterranean artistic traditions and European contemporary art practices while providing critical distance from Armenian cultural context. The Cyprus College of Art, known for its emphasis on independent artistic development and experimental approaches, encouraged Arshak Sarkissian to synthesize his Armenian heritage with broader international influences.
The combination of rigorous traditional training under his father, comprehensive education at the National Aesthetic Center, and experimental postgraduate studies in Cyprus provided Arshak Sarkissian with an unusually complete artistic education—spanning technical mastery, cultural depth, and contemporary conceptual frameworks.
Career Milestones
2005
Arshak Sarkissian received the Presidential Youth Award from the President of the Republic of Armenia, recognizing his emerging significance in Armenian contemporary art.
2013
Selected as finalist for Anthology exhibition at Charlie Smith Gallery, London, introducing Arshak Sarkissian’s work to the UK art market.
2020
Major solo exhibition at Rome Museum of Baroque, Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia, Italy, marking Arshak Sarkissian’s recognition in the European museum system.
Artistic Style and Surrealist Vision
Arshak Sarkissian creates what he calls “topsy turvy” compositions—surreal narrative paintings where conventional reality is systematically inverted and reimagined. In the world depicted by Arshak Sarkissian, adults ride in baby carriages, businessmen wear roosters’ heads instead of human faces, and figures metamorphose into hybrid human-animal creatures that defy biological classification.
The paintings by Arshak Sarkissian feature densely populated compositions filled with multiple figures, architectural elements, and symbolic objects that interact in psychologically charged tableaux. Rather than depicting single isolated subjects, Arshak Sarkissian constructs complex narrative environments where relationships between elements create meaning through juxtaposition, scale manipulation, and symbolic transformation.
Central to the artistic philosophy of Arshak Sarkissian is his belief that all elements within his paintings—whether traditionally classified as animate or inanimate—possess equivalent status as conscious beings. As Arshak Sarkissian explains, “All objects that appear in my paintings, whether animate or inanimate, are treated as animate beings endowed with intellect.” This philosophical position produces paintings where furniture, architectural elements, and decorative objects participate actively in narrative action rather than serving merely as background or setting.
Human-Animal Transformation
The signature motif in works by Arshak Sarkissian is the hybrid figure—beings that merge human and animal characteristics in disturbing and psychologically resonant combinations. Arshak Sarkissian creates figures with human bodies and animal heads, or conversely, animal bodies with human faces. These transformations are not presented as grotesque aberrations but rather as natural conditions within the painted world created by Arshak Sarkissian.
The hybrid creatures painted by Arshak Sarkissian explore themes of biological and anatomical transformation, examining the permeable boundary between human consciousness and animal instinct. Rather than maintaining clear hierarchical separation between human and animal, Arshak Sarkissian depicts transformation as continuous process, with figures caught in various stages of metamorphosis or inhabiting permanent hybrid states.
This interest in transformation connects the work of Arshak Sarkissian to broader art historical traditions of depicting metamorphosis, from Ovid’s mythological transformations through medieval bestiaries to the surrealist exploration of the unconscious. Arshak Sarkissian updates these historical precedents for contemporary audiences, exploring how modern alienation from natural instincts creates psychological distortions that manifest visually as biological transformation.
“Growing up in post-earthquake Gyumri developed my ability to capture psychological depth and imaginative inner worlds.”
Arshak Sarkissian
Influences: Bosch and Medieval Armenian Art
The artistic vocabulary developed by Arshak Sarkissian draws heavily on two major historical sources: the apocalyptic visions of Hieronymus Bosch and the traditions of medieval Armenian manuscript illumination and fresco painting.
From Hieronymus Bosch, the 15th-century Netherlandish painter, Arshak Sarkissian inherits the practice of creating densely populated compositions filled with hybrid creatures, moral allegories, and fantastical architecture. Like Bosch, Arshak Sarkissian constructs elaborately detailed painted worlds that reward extended viewing, with new figures and symbolic relationships emerging through careful examination. The hybrid creatures populating paintings by Arshak Sarkissian directly reference Bosch’s menagerie of human-animal combinations that populate works like “The Garden of Earthly Delights” and “The Temptation of St. Anthony.”
Equally important to the artistic development of Arshak Sarkissian is medieval Armenian visual culture. Armenia possesses a rich tradition of manuscript illumination, with medieval Armenian gospels featuring elaborate decorative programs combining Christian iconography, local folk motifs, and intricate geometric patterning. Arshak Sarkissian draws upon these traditions, incorporating the flat spatial organization, decorative patterning, and symbolic color usage characteristic of Armenian miniature painting into his contemporary surrealist practice.
Armenian fresco traditions also inform the work of Arshak Sarkissian. Medieval Armenian churches featured extensive fresco cycles depicting biblical narratives, saints, and symbolic creatures. The spatial organization and figure types visible in these frescoes provide visual precedents that Arshak Sarkissian reinterprets for contemporary purposes, connecting his work to Armenia’s long artistic heritage while addressing modern psychological concerns.
Color Palette and Armenian Landscape
The color palette employed by Arshak Sarkissian directly references the natural landscapes of Armenia. Rather than using the vivid, arbitrary colors common in much contemporary surrealist painting, Arshak Sarkissian grounds his fantastical imagery in organic hues derived from Armenian mountain scenery—what he describes as “deep purples and apricots.”
These colors reference the distinctive appearance of Armenian geography: the volcanic rock formations that create purple-toned mountain ranges, the apricot trees that are symbols of Armenian national identity, and the particular quality of light in Armenia’s high-altitude landscape. By grounding surreal subject matter in colors drawn from Armenian landscape, Arshak Sarkissian creates paintings that feel simultaneously fantastical and rooted in specific geographical reality.
The color choices made by Arshak Sarkissian also connect to Armenian cultural identity. Apricots hold special significance in Armenian culture—Armenia is often called the “land of apricots,” and the fruit appears in Armenian cuisine, folk art, and national symbolism. By incorporating apricot tones into his surrealist paintings, Arshak Sarkissian subtly asserts Armenian cultural identity within international contemporary art contexts.
Major Solo Exhibitions
The international career of Arshak Sarkissian has been marked by significant solo exhibitions in major cultural centers across Europe, North America, and the Middle East.
In 2020, Arshak Sarkissian presented a major solo exhibition at the Rome Museum of Baroque housed in Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia, Italy. This prestigious venue, dedicated to Baroque art and culture, provided institutional recognition for Arshak Sarkissian within the European museum system. The exhibition demonstrated how the surrealist paintings by Arshak Sarkissian engage with Baroque traditions of dramatic composition, psychological intensity, and elaborate detail.
In 2018, Arshak Sarkissian held the solo exhibition “Visual Poet” at Tufenkian Gallery in Los Angeles, introducing his work to the substantial Armenian diaspora community in California while also reaching broader American audiences. This exhibition emphasized the poetic dimension of paintings by Arshak Sarkissian, positioning him as visual poet whose images function like metaphoric language.
The 2017 solo exhibition “Portrays of Imaginary Souls” at Antikyan Gallery in Yerevan allowed Arshak Sarkissian to present mature work to Armenian audiences in his home country. This exhibition focused on the psychological and spiritual dimensions of his hybrid figures, presenting them not as monsters but as “imaginary souls”—beings with interior lives and emotional complexity.
In 2016, Arshak Sarkissian held the solo exhibition “Contemporary Man” at AC Gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This exhibition examined how the surreal transformations depicted by Arshak Sarkissian reflect the psychological condition of contemporary humanity, using fantastical imagery to diagnose modern alienation, anxiety, and identity fragmentation.
The year 2015 saw two significant solo exhibitions for Arshak Sarkissian: one at Studio Vendome in New York and another titled “Tera-Genesis” at Pharos Contemporary Art Museum in Cyprus. These exhibitions solidified the international recognition of Arshak Sarkissian in both American and Mediterranean art markets.
Group Exhibitions and International Recognition
Beyond solo exhibitions, Arshak Sarkissian has participated in significant group exhibitions that have expanded his international profile and connected his work to broader artistic conversations.
In 2019, Arshak Sarkissian represented Armenia at the Prague Quadrennial, the world’s largest event dedicated to performance design and scenography. Participation in the Armenian Pavilion positioned Arshak Sarkissian’s work within international dialogue about theatrical space, narrative construction, and the relationship between visual art and performance.
Also in 2019, Arshak Sarkissian participated in “Unwritten Structures,” a collaboration with Rome’s Museum of Arts and Popular Culture promoted by UNESCO. This exhibition explored how contemporary artists engage with traditional cultural forms and “unwritten” knowledge systems preserved through visual culture rather than textual documentation. The inclusion of Arshak Sarkissian in this UNESCO-supported project recognized his work as bridge between historical Armenian visual traditions and contemporary international art.
In 2013, Arshak Sarkissian was selected as finalist for “Anthology” at Charlie Smith Gallery in London. This competitive exhibition introduced the work of Arshak Sarkissian to London’s influential contemporary art market, leading to ongoing relationships with UK galleries and collectors.
Public Collections and Museum Recognition
The work of Arshak Sarkissian is held in significant public collections that testify to his institutional recognition.
Most notably, paintings by Arshak Sarkissian are housed in the Vatican Museum collection, one of the world’s most important repositories of religious and historical art. The acquisition of work by Arshak Sarkissian into the Vatican collections represents extraordinary recognition for a contemporary artist, particularly one whose surrealist imagery might seem at odds with traditional religious art. This acquisition likely reflects Vatican interest in how contemporary artists engage with spiritual themes and symbolic imagery rooted in Christian artistic traditions.
The Modern Art Museum in Yerevan, Armenia’s primary institution for contemporary art, holds works by Arshak Sarkissian in its permanent collection. This recognition from the national museum system positions Arshak Sarkissian among the most significant contemporary Armenian artists.
The Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana, Slovenia, has also acquired works by Arshak Sarkissian, reflecting his reception in Central European art contexts beyond his native Armenia.
The Pharos Arts Foundation in Cyprus, which operates a significant contemporary art museum, holds works by Arshak Sarkissian in its collection. This acquisition reflects the ongoing relationship between Arshak Sarkissian and Cypriot cultural institutions that began during his postgraduate studies at Cyprus College of Art.
Commissions and Applied Art Projects
Beyond gallery paintings, Arshak Sarkissian has completed significant applied art commissions that demonstrate the versatility of his artistic practice.
Arshak Sarkissian designed commemorative postage stamps for a joint Armenia-Bulgaria postal issue, translating his surrealist imagery into the miniature format of functional postal design. This commission required Arshak Sarkissian to adapt his complex compositional style to the practical constraints of stamp design while maintaining visual impact at small scale.
Arshak Sarkissian has also completed airport interior design projects, creating permanent installations in public transit spaces. These commissions allowed Arshak Sarkissian to work at architectural scale, creating immersive environments rather than discrete framed paintings. The challenge of designing for airport interiors required Arshak Sarkissian to consider how his imagery functions for audiences moving through space rather than stationary gallery viewers.
Presidential Youth Award and National Recognition
In 2005, Arshak Sarkissian received the Presidential Youth Award from the President of the Republic of Armenia. This prestigious national honor recognizes exceptional achievement by young Armenians across various fields including arts, sciences, and public service.
The award given to Arshak Sarkissian acknowledged his emerging significance in Armenian contemporary art and his potential to represent Armenian culture internationally. At a time when Armenia was still recovering economically and culturally from the Soviet collapse, the recognition of Arshak Sarkissian by the presidential administration signaled national investment in contemporary artistic production as vehicle for Armenian cultural identity in the post-Soviet era.
This early recognition provided Arshak Sarkissian with validation and support that facilitated his subsequent international career development, demonstrating how national cultural institutions can effectively nurture emerging artists who will later achieve international recognition.
Studios in Yerevan and London
Arshak Sarkissian maintains working studios in both Yerevan, Armenia and London, UK. This bi-continental practice allows Arshak Sarkissian to remain connected to Armenian cultural context while accessing the commercial galleries, museums, and collector base available in London’s international art market.
The Yerevan studio keeps Arshak Sarkissian grounded in Armenian artistic community, language, and the specific light and landscape that inform his color palette. Working in Yerevan allows Arshak Sarkissian to maintain relationships with Armenian cultural institutions, participate in the local art scene, and draw continued inspiration from Armenian visual traditions.
The London studio positions Arshak Sarkissian within one of the world’s most significant art markets. London provides access to major galleries, international collectors, museum professionals, and the critical discourse surrounding contemporary art. The presence of Arshak Sarkissian in London also connects him to the substantial Armenian diaspora community in the UK.
This dual-studio practice reflects the increasingly international nature of contemporary art careers, where artists maintain connections to multiple geographic contexts rather than remaining rooted in single locations.
Themes: Reconnecting Human and Animal Nature
The underlying philosophical concern driving the work of Arshak Sarkissian is the relationship between human consciousness and animal instinct. In contemporary life, according to Arshak Sarkissian, humans have become dangerously disconnected from instinctual and biological dimensions of existence, creating psychological distortions that manifest as anxiety, alienation, and fragmented identity.
By depicting human-animal transformations, Arshak Sarkissian explores this disconnect visually. The hybrid figures created by Arshak Sarkissian are not simply monsters or grotesques but representations of the divided consciousness characteristic of modernity—beings caught between rational human intellect and instinctual animal nature, unable to integrate these dimensions into coherent identity.
The paintings by Arshak Sarkissian suggest that recovery of integrated selfhood requires acknowledging and incorporating animal instinct rather than denying or suppressing it. The hybrid creatures in his work represent not degradation of human to animal level but rather potential integration of human and animal dimensions into more complete being.
This philosophical position connects the work of Arshak Sarkissian to broader contemporary interest in posthuman theory, which challenges anthropocentric hierarchies that position humans as fundamentally separate from and superior to animal nature. Arshak Sarkissian engages these theoretical concerns through visual means, creating paintings that embody rather than merely illustrate philosophical positions.
Technical Practice: Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture
While Arshak Sarkissian is primarily known for his paintings, his artistic practice spans multiple media including drawing, printmaking, etching, and sculpture. This technical versatility reflects the comprehensive training received by Arshak Sarkissian from his father and at the National Aesthetic Center.
The drawing practice of Arshak Sarkissian functions both as preparatory work for paintings and as independent finished artworks. His drawings demonstrate the rigorous figure construction skills developed through his father’s demanding training, with complex anatomical forms rendered with precision even when depicting fantastical hybrid creatures.
The etching and printmaking skills taught by his father remain active components of the practice of Arshak Sarkissian. Printmaking allows Arshak Sarkissian to work in linear modes emphasizing contour and cross-hatching rather than the painterly color relationships characteristic of his paintings. The etching process also enables edition production, making the work of Arshak Sarkissian more accessible to collectors than unique paintings.
Arshak Sarkissian also creates sculptures that translate his painted hybrid figures into three-dimensional form. These sculptures allow viewers to experience the hybrid creatures created by Arshak Sarkissian as physical presences occupying real space rather than illusionistic images on flat surfaces. The sculptural work of Arshak Sarkissian demonstrates how his surrealist vision translates across different media while maintaining conceptual consistency.
Contemporary Significance and Legacy
Arshak Sarkissian represents an important model for how contemporary artists from small nations can achieve international recognition while maintaining connection to specific cultural traditions. Rather than abandoning Armenian artistic heritage to adopt international contemporary art conventions, Arshak Sarkissian demonstrates how local visual traditions can be synthesized with contemporary concerns to create work that is simultaneously rooted and innovative.
The work of Arshak Sarkissian contributes to ongoing conversations about surrealism in contemporary art. While 20th-century surrealism often drew upon psychoanalytic theory and automatic techniques, the surrealism practiced by Arshak Sarkissian is more deliberately constructed, drawing upon historical visual traditions and addressing philosophical questions about human nature and contemporary alienation. Arshak Sarkissian demonstrates how surrealist visual strategies remain productive tools for contemporary artists examining psychological and social conditions.
For Armenian art, Arshak Sarkissian represents important generational shift. Born after Soviet domination, coming of age during Armenia’s independence and facing early childhood trauma from the 1988 earthquake, Arshak Sarkissian belongs to the first generation of post-Soviet Armenian artists who have built international careers while remaining connected to Armenian culture. The success of Arshak Sarkissian demonstrates the vitality of Armenian contemporary art and its capacity to engage international audiences.
The paintings created by Arshak Sarkissian offer contemporary viewers sophisticated visual explorations of transformation, identity, and the relationship between human consciousness and animal nature. His hybrid figures resonate with contemporary anxieties about technological transformation, environmental crisis, and fragmented selfhood, making the surrealist imagery created by Arshak Sarkissian feel urgently relevant to 21st-century concerns.
As Arshak Sarkissian continues developing his practice from studios in Yerevan and London, his work promises to deepen its engagement with both Armenian cultural traditions and international contemporary art discourse, establishing him as one of the most significant contemporary Armenian artists of his generation.