One of the pioneering figures in Turkey’s conceptual art scene, Sarkis employs a wide range of techniques and materials, including photography, video, painting, sculpture, stained glass, and neon lights, in his artworks imbued with symbolic images embracing subject-object and individual-society relationships. Combining Western intellectual traditions with the historically marginalised cultural traditions of the East, he addresses issues such as time, memory, identity, loss, belonging, and rebirth. Sarkis, who never exhibits his works in the same way twice without alteration, creates pieces that erase the boundaries between art and life with their constantly evolving and interreferential structures. Many of his works reference dramatic moments in human history by placing the past at the core, establishing a connection between the present and the future. Kriegsschatz (spoils of war) and leidschatz (treasure of suffering), the two fundamental concepts that inform his oeuvre from 1976 onwards, represent an individual’s struggle against a kind of oblivion within modern history, a fight for remembrance. The objects, which he de-contextualises and gives other meanings, reflect memory and related feelings such as victory, pain, and perhaps shame, opening up space for their transformation. According to Sarkis, art is always about new beginnings.
Sarkis (b. 1938, Istanbul) graduated from the State Academy of Fine Arts. He held his first solo exhibition at Istanbul Art Gallery in 1960. He moved to Paris in 1964. Sarkis’ works have been exhibited at prestigious institutions, including Centre Pompidou, Paris; Guggenheim, New York; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle, Bonn; Louvre Museum, Paris; Bode Museum, Berlin; Fondazione MAXXI and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. In 2015, he represented Turkey at the Turkey Pavilion of the 56th Venice Biennale. His recent solo exhibitions include Future Lies Ahead 1993–2023, Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon (2023); 85 Screams: After Munch, Dirimart, Istanbul (2023); 7 Tage 7 Nächte, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden (2023); ENDLESS, Arter, Istanbul (2023); Çaylak Sokak, Arter, Istanbul (2019); Mirror, Dirimart, Istanbul (2017) and L’ouverture, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul (2009). Among the significant exhibitions and biennials he participated in are the 6th Mardin Biennial, Mardin (2024); the 2nd, 4th, and the 14th Istanbul Biennials, Istanbul (1989, 1995, 2015); the 10th Lyon Biennial, Lyon (2010); the 2nd Moscow Biennial, Moscow (2007); the 3rd Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai (2000); the 4th and 8th Sydney Biennials, Sydney (1982, 1990); documenta VI and VII, Kassel (1977, 1982) and When Attitudes Become Form, Kunsthalle Bern (1969). Additionally, in 2015, he participated in the group exhibition at the Armenian Pavilion of the 56th Venice Biennale. Sarkis’ works are part of major collections, including Centre Pompidou, Paris; MAMCO, Switzerland; and Istanbul Modern, as well as various private collections. Sarkis lives and works in Paris.