Amy Sarkisian | Morbid Curiosity + Eslov Wide Shut

Morbid Curiosity: The Richard Harris Collection at the Chicago Cultural Center January 28 - July 8, 2012
Morbid Curiosity showcases collector Richard Harris’ nearly 1,000 works, including creations by many of the greatest artists of our time, which explore the iconography of death across a variety of artistic, cultural and spiritual practices from 2000 B.C.E. to the present day.

The two major components of this exhibition are the “War Room,” highlighting the atrocities of war in notable works from the 17th century to present day in the 4th floor Exhibit Hall; and the “Kunstkammer of Death,” a modern-day “cabinet of curiosities” housed in the Sidney R. Yates Gallery, featuring a wide-ranging survey of mortality across cultures and spiritual traditions.

The centerpiece of the “War Room” is Mr. Harris’ collection of five great war series featuring prints by Jacques Callot, Francisco Goya, Otto Dix, the Chapman Brothers and Sandow Birk, which he has acquired over the past 30 years. This exhibition marks the first time that all five series will be exhibited together in their entirety.

Related Events:

Friday, January 27 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. - Opening Reception


Saturday, January 28 at 3 p.m. - Gallery Talk with British artist Jodie Carey and Guerra de la Paz artists

Sunday, January 29 at 3 p.m. - Gallery Talk with collector Richard Harris

Friday, February 3, 12:15 p.m - University of Chicago First Friday Lecture
Plato the Poet: Socratic Visions of Afterlife
Claudia Cassidy Theater
Katia Mitova, Instructor, Basic Program, University of Chicago discusses the elaborate myths of the afterlife in Plato’s dialogues Gorgias (523a – 537e), Republic (614b – 621b) and Phaedo (110b – 114e), and the relationship between morality and poetic imagination.

January 13 – March 7 - Forever 27: Music Superstars Gone to an Early Grave
As a companion to the exhibition, Project Onward presents a new exhibition in the Garland corridor of the Chicago Cultural Center. The exhibit will feature portraits of musicians who have died at age 27 such as Jim Morrison, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain, among others.

Amy Sarkisian | Notes on Looking

Notes on looking has posted a great interview with Amy Sarkisian.
Read more here.

The Optimist’s Parking Lot | Amy Sarkisian and Charles Irvin

Beacon Arts Building
808 N. La Brea Ave.
Inglewood, CA 90302
310.419.4077

Art Exhibition: The Optimist’s Parking Lot
August 13th – September 25th, 2011
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 13th from 6:00-10:00 PM
Gallery Hours: Thurs. – Sat. 1:00 – 6:00 PM & Sun. 1:00 - 4:00 PM

The Optimist's Parking Lot, a group show curated by Suzanne Adelman and Keith Walsh, proposes a state of being that metaphorically draws upon the provisional or transitional status of this zone, which may be a stop within a journey, the location for a political sit-in, or possibly even one’s home. In this way, a parking lot is much like a gallery: A way station for art objects, and a zone for expectation, contemplation, deferment, anxiety, advocacy, and exaltation.

Optimism is, in fact, a noun. Common definitions of the word also often cite Gottfried Leibniz’s 17th century philosophy that the existing world is the perfect world as it was conceived through God the master architect. This notion has given way in the last four centuries to a humanist sensibility and, as embodied through artistic production, realizes phenomenological zones of self-empowerment. The decision to create, and the will to do depends upon a certain optimism—which may also be considered a utopian gesture. Inevitably, optimism evokes its counterpart, pessimism and dystopia. This expressed struggle is often enfolded into the various processes that transpire during the making of art, and may find its reification in the work’s formal aspects, or its manner of response to external conditions. How might the work acknowledge, filter, or avoid references to our larger contemporary context of economic malaise, corporate capitalism, geopolitical unrest, environmental catastrophes, and conservative social mandates? How might art help us better imagine our individual and collective futures? The relationship of form to content also brings about the question of whether art functions well as evidence of optimism or not. Can art be a more reliable indicator of the complexities of optimism than a smile or an upbeat spiel?

The poetics of The Optimist’s Parking Lot attempts to remind us of the multifaceted nature of optimism: the challenges of considering a sense of future and possibility--along with its potential detours, waiting, and endgames in the context of current events.

The Optimist’s Parking Lot feature the work of Lisa Anne Auerbach, Aaron Brewer, Kristin Calabrese, Mason Cooley, Young Chung, Dorit Cypis, Mark Dutcher, Doug Harvey, Steven Hull, Steve Hurd, Charles Irvin, Ed Johnson, Vincent Johnson, Molly Larkey, Amy Sarkisian, Kyungmi Shin, Jen Smith, Thaddeus Strode, Suzanne Adelman, Keith Walsh, Chris Wilder, and Aaron Wrinkle.

Amy Sarkisian | Huffington Post

Peter Frank has written a short review of Amy's current show.
click here to read.

Notes on Looking | Amy Sarkisian

Geoff Tuck has a nice post about the current goings on in Chinatown, featuring Amy's current show at WPA.
Click here to read.

My House is Your House | Amy Sarkisian - Tyler Vlahovich

“My House is Your House,” curated by Whitney Carter and Molly Larkey, April 29 - May 29, 2011
Opening reception: Friday, April 29, 7-10 pm

Artists: Sara Clendening & Eric Wesley, Samantha Fields & Andre Yi, Samara Golden & John Seal, Kate Harding & Steven Bankhead, Michael Henry Hayden & Anthony Lepore, Daniel Ingroff & Paul Pescador & David Gilbert, Kristi Lippire & Matt Wardell, Yunhee Min & Patrick Meagher, Tracy Nakayama & Jeremy Yoder, Amy Sarkisian &Tyler Vlahovich

Statler Waldorf Gallery is pleased to present “My House is Your House." The exhibition examines couples who work together, either in a direct capacity, or by sharing an intimate space outside of their respective studio practice(s). A partner’s role as confidant and critic is essential, as they are often privy to the most intimate evolutions that each other’s work endures over time. How do the conversations that happen within a studio and a home, with a partner whose opinion is a trusted source, affect one’s practice? “My House is Your House” also celebrates the role that communities of like-minded individuals (partners of another sort) play in our creative endeavors. In opening up one’s home, and creating connections with those around us, we build exchanges that ultimately make our world meaningful.


Statler Waldorf Gallery is an artist-run exhibition space located at 1098 W. Kensington Road, Los Angeles, CA, 90026, a private residence in Echo Park. We are open by appointment only. For more information, please email: info@statlerwaldorfgallery.com.

Amy Sarkisian | TryHarDer

Some very nice pics from Amy's opening last saturday on TryHarDer.
Click here to view.

Amy Sarkisian | Opening

Amy Sarkisian | American Gag
April 16 - May 14, 2011
Opening Reception: April 16th 6-9 pm

WPA is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new work by Amy Sarkisian. Sarkisian's new sculptures present an iconic statement about the perverted, maligned and marginal in all of us.

This body of work is a combination of drawing and sculpture, which are my two default modes of working. I'm attracted to drawing because of its economy and it balances my sculptural practice, which tends to be more complex. American Gag has become an exercise to resolve my drawings while at the same time not abandoning my first love that is sculpture.

Amy Sarkisian lives and works in Los Angeles. She has had solo exhibitions at Atelier Cardenas Bellanger and Galerie Carlos Cardenas in Paris, Suzanne Vielmetter and Sister in Los Angeles, Marella Arte Contemporanea in Milan. This summer she will be included in an exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in England. Amy Sarkisian ran the project space, Studio 870, in the late 1990s and is the newest member of WPA.

THE ARCHAIC REVIVAL | Amy Sarkisian, Charles Irvin

THE ARCHAIC REVIVAL
Curated by Dani Tull

CHROMIUM DUMB BELLE
ALISON BLICKLE
TRACY CONTI & STEPHEN MCCARTY
LIZ CRAFT
SARAH CROMARTY
MICHAEL DECKER
FRANCESCA GABBIANI
WENDELL GLADSTONE
PEARL C. HSIUNG
CHARLES IRVIN
PENTTI MONKKONEN
SANDEEP MUKHERJEE
ALIA PENNER
BRIAN RANDOLPH
EWOUD VAN RIJN
EDDIE RUSCHA
AMY SARKISIAN
ALLISON SCHULNIK
ANNA SEW HOY
MINDY SHAPERO
JIM SHAW
LAURIE STEELINK
THADDEUS STRODE
OWLEYES "JAMES" WEIGEL
LANDON WIGGS
MARNIE WEBER

The exhibition will also feature special musical performances and ceremonial happenings.

Archaic Revival Events:
Jan 29th “Mujical” performance by Featherbeard at the opening

Feb 4th Oracle readings by Maja D’aoust and “Spectral Psychography” by Christian Cummings and Michael Decker

Feb 12th Ceremonial Earth Acupuncture Dream Journey by Urban Shaman Eric Baumgartner
TBA The Entrance Band

Special thanks to Amanda Kobritz.

OPENING RECEPTION Saturday, January 29, 7-10pm
CLOSE Saturday, February 26
GALLERY HOURS Wednesday - Saturday, Noon-6 pm

Las Cienegas Projects
2045 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034

The Archaic Revival from YDGN Productions on Vimeo.