Sarkis (Zabunian Sarkis) was born in Istanbul in 1938, and has lived and worked in Paris since 1964.

Initially oriented towards painting, his work has developed increasingly around sculpture and installations. He uses materials he describes as "hard", with a strong symbolic charge, such as tar, water, steel and heat. To these elements he associates theater, music and his interest in the works of Beuys and Conceptual Art. Sarkis has developed a specific plastic vocabulary around the concept of Kriegschatz, (war treasure, booty) which is one of the fundamental notions of his work, for which he assembles objects from different cultures.

At the Atelier Calder, Sarkis has produced a series of videos whose 25 opening screens give the 25 titles: "Au commencement..." ("In the beginning..."). With a profound economy of gesture, a great sobriety of means, a great deal of poetry and a childlike freshness, these films present a kind of eulogy to watercolor: the diffusion of color in water, the passage from solid to liquid, the sheet of paper that burns... Sarkis stages not only daylight, but also sound through different types of music.

Sarkis has taken part in most of the major group exhibitions of recent years, regularly exhibiting his work in major museums and art centers throughout Europe.

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Video captures : Guillaume Blanc