Peter Sarkisian’s new exhibition at I-20 will introduce his third multiple-projection work at the gallery.
The installation, Strand, shows individual figures falling through a series of ten-foot transparent pillars. The passing of each figure is joined by the sound of a voice, which rushes by as the bodies fall. These voices tell of experiences, and build slowly to a moment of clarity before fading as the figures drop away.
The viewer shares only brief contact with the images, and because the voices telling these stories are audible only for a moment, they are by nature short-lived, as are the finite moments that ultimately unify to form our perception of experience. The installation references the contribution of singular elements to the unified whole, as well as the singular moment as it contributes to the pattern of experience. The visible section of pillar denotes a point at which a particular moment is defined. This is reflected by a parallel moment: that of the viewer as he or she watches and listens.
This 12-channel work was created in 2000 at the artist’s studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Strand is the latest in a body of works that do not involve a conventional monitor or frame. Also shown at I-20 were Dusted (1998), Hover (1999) and Hands of a Similar Man (1999).
Peter Sarkisian, 35, has exhibited widely in the U.S. and Europe. His work is currently on view at the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles in Making Time: Considering Time as a Material in Contemporary Film and Video Art, curated by Amy Cappellazzo. In 2000 the artist had his first survey show at the Musée Picasso Antibes. In 2002 he will have a solo Exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.