Epress.am News from Armenia
A new solo exhibit by Dmitri Sarkisov called “UNIFORM” will launch on Jul. 23 at 6 pm at the Modern Art Museum of Armenia.
The exhibit consists of a number of canvases of images one might come across on a computer screen. Taken out of context, these images are all the more striking, considering the fact that the artist doesn’t own a computer.
Sarkisov, who is also a captain with the Armenian Air Defense Force, describes his work as such:
An experimental experience of restoring complete perception of the world.
Light resistance to will and the conviction that you will overcome this resistance.
I don’t have a computer.
That which exists has the pleasure of creating again.
The sterility of fulfilling an order.
Local artist Gor Yengoyan, who organized the exhibit and created the Facebook event page, framed the concept, in part, as follows:
“Technologies and their system of tools and symbols with which we work is not inert. And as much as we work with technologies, they work with us. We are significantly involved in the computer’s reality, which, as a rule, doesn’t allow us to view ourselves from the side — in relationship between human and computer. A view from the side arises either in those instances when we encounter a programming error or when we don’t have on hand the technology that we’ve become accustomed to for economic or other reasons.
“To say that the uniform we wear is not inert means to say nothing: firstly, at least for the reason that the uniform expressively testifies to our SERVICE in the given system. Not only does the man wear a uniform, but also the uniform wears the man — with a uniform, a man is a different person than a man without a uniform. Often the border between one’s own skin and the uniform disappears. The relationship between skin and uniform becomes apparent when the system, the symbol of which is the uniform, ‘stalls’ and makes mistakes. For example, when those in service suddenly and for incomprehensible reasons commit suicide.”