Sarkis Hamalbashian

Biography:
Born in 1956, Gyumri, Armenia
1969 Studies at the School of Fine Arts, Gyumri, Armenia.
1975 Graduates from Panos Terlemezian Fine Art College, Yerevan, Armenia.
Since 2009 Sargis Hamalbashian holds the title of Honorable Artist of Republic of
Armenia

Group Exhibitions:
2015 Contemporary İstanbul Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey
2014 “Beauty in the Palm” exhibition, Beirut, Lebanon
2014 “Selected Artworks” exhibition, Vienna, Austria
2014 Contemporary İstanbul Art Fair, İstanbul, Turkey
2013 Arame Art Gallery exhibition, Las Vegas, USA
2013 "Sensual Revelations" exhibition, Beirut, Lebanon
2013 “AGBU Contemporary Armenian Art” exhibition, Pasadena, USA
2013 “Selected Artworks” exhibition, Beirut Lebanon
2013 10th Anniversary of Arame Art Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2012 Los Angeles Fine Art Show, Los Angeles, USA
2012 Armenian Art Exhibition in Connecticut University, Connecticut, USA
2012 "In Search for Paradise", New Figurative Art of Armenia, Pesaro, Italy
2012 "Symphony of Colors", Beirut, Lebanon
2012 Grand Opening of a New Art Center of Arame Art Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2011 Contemporary İstanbul Art Fair, İstanbul, Turkey
2011 UNESCO Palace, Beirut, Lebanon
2010 “New Masterpieces” exhibition, Arame Art Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2010 Art Center of Haigazian University, Beirut, Lebanon
2004 “Still-life” exhibition, Arame Art Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2004 Fourth International Biennial, Gyumri, Armenia
2004 International Artexpo, New York, USA
2002 “Art of Nations” exhibition, Moscow, Russia
2001 “Contemporary Armenian Art” exhibition, National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
2000 International Exhibition “Third Millennium Figures Of the Future”, Pontifical Council for Culture, Vatican
2000 Second International Biennial, Gyumri, Armenia
1999 “Three Tendencies” exhibition, Hay-Art Center, Yerevan, Armenia
1999 “On the Eve of the 21st Century” exhibition, Artists House, Yerevan, Armenia
1999 “With Many Voices” Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, USA
1998 First International Biennial, Gyumri, Armenia
1998 “Dreams and Visions” exhibition, Chicago, USA
1998 International Artexpo, New York, USA
1997 London Contemporary Art Fair, London, UK
1997 “Works on Paper” exhibition, Charlie Khatchatrian Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
1996 6th Arrondissement Municipal Gallery, Paris, France
1996 Palais de Justice, Poitiers, France
1996 “The Arsenal” exhibition, Metz, France
1995 “Artists of Armenia and the Diaspora” exhibition, Cite des Beaux Arts, Paris, France
1995 “Contemporary Art from Armenia 80-95” exhibition, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
1995 “Stream of Fire - New Art from Armenia” exhibition, European Cultural Month, Nicosia, Cyprus
1995 “Armenia: The Rediscovery of Land of Ancient Culture” exhibition, Bochum Museum, Bochum, Germany
1994 “Yerevan Landscape” exhibition, Gallery Ex-Voto, Yerevan, Armenia
1994 “Personal Icon” exhibition, Gallery Ex-Voto, Yerevan, Armenia
1993 “Beyond Idiom - Contemporary Crossover Art in Armenia” exhibition, American University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
1993 “Four Contemporary Armenia Artists” exhibition, Gloria Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus
1992 Gallery Express Avant-Garde, Moscow, Russia
1992 “Armenian Post – Modernism” exhibition, Moscow, Russia
1992 “Contemporary Armenian Artists” exhibition, Gallery Vision, Kassel, Germany
1991 Group Exhibition, Artist’s House, Yerevan, Armenia
1990 “Young Soviet Artists - The Armenian Avant-garde" exhibition, Kassel, Germany
1990 “Modern Soviet Painting” exhibition, Galeria Praça, Lisbon, Portugal
1990 “Contemporary Art from Armenia” exhibition, New Academy Gallery, London, UK
1989 “Artists and Work of Art” exhibition, Helsinki, Finland
1988 “Young Artists of USSR” exhibition, Moscow, Russia

Personal Exhibitions:
2009 National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
2002 Melina Mercury Hall, Nicosia, Cyprus
2001 Die Galerie Bodenschatz, Basel, Switzerland
1999 13 Ayios Kassianos, Nicosia, Cyprus
1997 AUX Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
1996 Galerie La Hune, Paris, France
1992 New Academy Gallery, London, UK

Public Collections:
National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
Museum Of Modern Art, Yerevan, Armenia
National Museum of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
Cultural Fund of USSR and the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
Royal Gallery of Gordon Gaffeschian Collection, Washington D.C.,USA

Catalogues:
1995 "The Rediscovery of a Land of Ancient Culture" exhibition, Bochum, Germany
1995 "Stream of Fire - New Art from Armenia" exhibition, Nicosia, Cyprus
1994 "Artists of Armenia and Diaspora" exhibition, Paris, France
1990 "Young Soviet Artists - The Armenian Avant-garde" exhibition, Kassel, Germany
1990 "Contemporary Art from Armenia" exhibition, London, UK
1989 "Artists & Works of Art" exhibition, Finland, Helsinki

Since 1978 he participated in national and international exhibitions in Yerevan, Japan, Germany, including solo exhibitions in London and Los Angeles. His paintings are displayed in the Modern Art Museum of Armenia and in private collections around the world.

In the 1980's he emerged as one of the leading young artists who began to challenge Soviet norms. His work carried the imprint of the Italian early Renaissance, Russian iconography, the Russian new avant-garde, Armenian miniature painting and current developments in post-modern art in Armenia. During the post Soviet period, Sarkis emerged as one of the most important artists working in Armenia.

Reviews:
      Sarkis is the type of people who constantly lack space, it seems as though, given the opportunity, he may well fill up the with his paintings the biggest exhibition hall in the world. A gift, even a talent usually do not make a man. Sarkis amazes with his formitable stamina, his thirst for life, for everything that makes an artist and, what is most important, with an endless trust in himself, his calling.
      Most of the works of Sarkis are somewhat like polyptychs combining different motifs. The thoroughly elaborated construction of a nascent painting becomes a reliable frame that nevertheless does not constrain its own subsequent development.
      The exuberant activity of Sarkis Hamalbashian leaves the impression of a volcanic eruption, a sort of perpetuum mobile, he values and cherishes his every day and every hour. And although. His works never get stuck in the studio for long, a visitor may feel overwhelmed with the ever increasing quantity of canvases, rich in intensive, yelling, challenging music of painting.

Henrik Igitian, Director, Museum of Contemporary Art of Armenia

***
      The paintings of Sarkis linger in memory. The dreamy feeling persists. This dream is about life where the past and the present are woven whimsically together: that which is history and that which shall forever remain a distant dream. This is the intrinsic world of the painter that is not confined within a single nationality or single tradition, it is open to the winds of change and thus is in the unison with all the people that have an intellectually high-strung soul like Sarkis. What is it that assembles the divergent images in the paintings? The unique consonance in which he remains to be an Armenian. Let us fine-tune our ears and list: anxiety, fear of ugliness and cruelty and also, perhaps, shaky hope. Embodied in a white angel.

Kim Bakshi, The Dreams and Consonances of Sarkis Hamalbashian

***
      Intuition, life and art
      When Sarkis became aware that painting was his destiny and vocation he, like all beginners, felt the impact of those important influences. Bosch and Mantegna were his idols. Then, Matisse became his God… Later on Sarkis found his own motifs, his own view of humanity, life and nature. Hamlbashian’s paintings breathe quietly and evenly. One cannot remain indifferent toward them because they urge the viewer to stop for a while and breathe a long. One can imagine him as a little boy, standing on a threshold of the family home, watching the women greeting each other and exchanging the latest gossip. After the earthquake, after the extensive destruction in the native Gumri, Hamalbashina’s work underwent dramatic changes, but still the earthquake scenes are not directly found in his works. The terror of nature is recalled in the artist’s works indirectly. His move to Yerevan coincides with the transformation of the artist’s mentality and outlook, and is reflected in the mode and colors of his work.

Noune Sarkisian, Art critic