Sculpting video.

PETER SARKISIAN

1-20 GALLERY

NEW YORK CITY

MAY 9-JULY 26, 2008

Peter Sarkisian's current work on exhibit at I-20 Gallery in Chelsea challenges the traditional syntax of video art. Conjoining vacuum-formed, thermal plastic sculptures with hundreds of rear-projected video clips, the works defy categorization. Functioning as both object and image, the forms anthropomorphize into living, breathing machines. Sarkisian filmed images of gears, pistons, and ball bearings at Los Alamos National Laboratory Surplus Facility in New Mexico (site of the Manhattan Project). Remnants from the Cold War, the obsolete machine parts churn, whir, clank, and grind, creating a whimsical rhythm. The animated, cartoon-color palette inflects the work with a futuristic, sci-fi tone. The combination of sound, color, and movement contrasts the ominous context of the source images.

Featured in the 2002 Whitney Biennial, Sarkisian's previous work explored spatial and perceptual video projections. Historically, he projected onto objects and surfaces, creating interactive viewer environments. These current works are projected from within as each contoured shape melds with a moving image. Movement of one mechanism appears to activate another and another, composing an intricate, syncopated organism.

Beyond the technical virtuosity, the work references the metaphor of body as machine. Conducting audio interviews, Sarkisian asked friends and family to recount the most important moment in their lives. Text excerpts from these audio recordings burst and flow through linear forms resembling arteries. Moving in and out of the frame, the fleeting text humanizes the artificial entity. The strength of Sarkisian's latest exhibition is not only his ability to reinvent the medium of video, but the underlying conceptual structure embedded in the work. Uniting the fanciful with the serious, Sarkisian's creations both entertain and provoke.