Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey
March 21 2010
Sarkis Zabunyan enhances art space with his own `fingerprints’ in `Opus’
`Opus,’ the newest collection of works by contemporary artist Sarkis
Zabunyan, is on view until April 10 at Galerist in Ä°stanbul.
`I rebel with love, and I still have so much love to give them,’ says
Sarkis Zabunyan, an influential and leading Turkish contemporary
artist, explaining his approach to the architectural structures that
have become the masterpieces — the magnum opuses — of various
civilizations.
As Zabunyan carries on his own struggle to make art live and breathe
and as he celebrates his 50th year in a career in art, which can be
said to have started with his first exhibition at the Ä°stanbul Art
Gallery in 1960, he invites people to rediscover the existence of the
architectural structures through his unique interpretation, titled
`Opus’ and currently on view at Galerist in Ä°stanbul’s Galatasaray
quarter.
The exhibition comprises a range of the artist’s works that include
large paintings based on architectural plans of historic structures
and his neon light installations, created for the occasion and
displayed for the first time.
Music and interpretation
`I’ve been interpreting all the works that I’ve been doing since
1975,’ the 72-year-old artist explains in an interview with Sunday’s
Zaman. `When an installation or a work of mine goes somewhere, it
takes all the interpretations with it because works don’t want to
cease anywhere and they require to be continuously interpreted.’
`I call this the `prize of war’,’ Zabunyan says, explaining what he
understands from interpreting and his consideration of art as a living
entity. `I recognized this when I was in Berlin. You go to a museum
and enter, for example, a hall where African statues are on exhibit,
and in another hall you see statues from the North Pole. One was born
in minus 40 degrees Celsius, while the other was born in 40 degrees
Celsius, and both have now been frozen at 20 degrees. You take these
works and capture them, and there remains only the image where the
living aspect of the work dies. My war is against this.’
`In Turkey, we don’t have any exhibitions created inside museums,’
Zabunyan says, talking about the approach of museums and art centers
while explaining his intentions in his previous exhibition, `Site,’
which was displayed at Ä°stanbul Modern. `Museums have always taken
exhibitions as a whole and put them in their halls, leaving them
motionless. That is not an exhibition for me. An exhibition is born in
the space [it is displayed at], and I believe that museums should
create exhibitions.’
`And in this process, the interpretation is revealed spontaneously
just as in the interpretation of musical works. A song can be
interpreted, and there are partitions in music that are realized in a
different way by every musician. Some musicians perform the
compositions of certain composers better because they either feel very
close to that music or they analyze them better. The same holds true
for art. I consider plans as partitions and I’m trying to perform them
with my hands.’
In his exhibit, Zabunyan also uses watercolor applied with his own
fingertips on paper. `I used a new medium for the interpretation,’ he
says. `I use the prints left by my fingertips just like musical notes.
And in every plan the way I touch changes, too. I learn how to stroke
and I begin to summarize. This is the same in music. There are some
orchestra conductors who summarize the whole partitions and, just like
that, I began to perform my works like a musical partition.’
With the enchanting addition of the artist’s own `fingerprints,’
Zabunyan takes the audience to the world of architectural plans, from
architect Sinan’s Selimiye Mosque and Atik-i Valide Mosque to other
examples of Ottoman architecture, such as the Rumeli Fortress and the
Ulu Mosque as well as the most significant figures of modern
architecture, such as the Cathedral of Le Corbusier in Ronchamp,
Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Parliament Social Complex
in Bangladesh by Louis Khan. Zabunyan expanded the range of his works
with his reinterpretation of the Ryoanji Temple in Japan and the
Ajanta Caves in India.
`This is the plan of the Hagia Sophia of 1453,’ notes Zabunyan,
explaining that the later version of the plan is quite intricate due
to the additional structures built during the Ottoman period. `But I
guess I will work and try to interpret that plan one day,’ he says.
`How did Ottoman architecture touch this structure? I have to observe
it very carefully because there are two different architectural styles
interpenetrating. But I have not solved this yet. I’m working on it,
and I will do it one day.’
Magnum opus
Even though the architectural plans on view at the exhibition are from
very different places and cultures, there are some points in common
among these structures for Zabunyan. `They are all spaces or plans
which enrich me and influence me a lot,’ Zabunyan says and asks: `Why
does an architectural structure become a masterpiece? Why do you want
to go and see these places continuously? And why do you want to leave
some places immediately? Because these places are consumed in 30
seconds, and you feel this. For example, when you examine the plan of
the cathedral of Le Corbusier, you see that it is like a signature.
And this brought to my mind the Rumeli Fortress. And so they began to
intersect in my mind.
`There are many religious structures in this exhibition, but this was
not something I intended to do,’ Zabunyan notes. `There aren’t many
civil structures in this exhibition. This also reveals the analysis of
the concept of sacred. I’m not searching for the relationship between
the sacredness of art and of religion; rather, I believe an artwork
has sacredness inherent in itself.’ In this respect, Zabunyan does not
discriminate between religions; there are monuments belonging to the
Jews, the Christians, the Muslims and the Buddhists. `There is always
dialogue between cultures,’ says Zabunyan, who has had an
intercultural influence in his own background. `Even though my family
is Gregorian Armenian, they sent me to Catholic school so that I could
learn French,’ says Zabunyan. `But I couldn’t embrace that culture.
After some time, you begin to realize where and how to nurture
yourself. For example, when you go to the Hagia Sophia, there’s a fear
because there is darkness when you enter; you can’t even see yourself.
A mosque is very different. For instance, you feel yourself in the
Selimiye; that huge dome doesn’t scare you, and I can work very well
there,’ Zabunyan says about the Selimiye Mosque, where he has his
unique rituals, such as going there every year and observing the
mosque being washed under the daylight right at 9 at 12 o’clock. `But,
I can’t do this for some places because some plans in this exhibition
have never been built,’ he concludes.
The common ground among the architectural structures is reflected in
the neon writing as well in one which expresses this character in the
clearest way: that of `Sinan Kahn.’ `There’s a vast silence both in
Sinan and Kahn, and a voice,’ says Zabunyan. `They both have an
impression as if they were raised out of the soil. Kahn was an
American Jew, and he realized his monumental works in India and Dhaka.
I was so fascinated.’
One of the structures that influenced Zabunyan the most is the
Mütevekkiliye Mosque in Samara. `I don’t know the architect of the
mosque,’ says Zabunyan, `but ¦ it is unbelievable. It is such a modern
structure, just like minimalist art. A mathematical plan was employed
in its [design, made] in the eighth century. It was impossible for
this plan not to influence me.’
The exhibition `Opus’ is on display until April 10. In addition to
another solo exhibit at the Centre Georges Pompidou in France, the
artist is now working on his future exhibitions to be shown at the
Museum of Contemporary Art in Geneva and the Yapı Kredi Kazım TaÅ?kent
Art Gallery in Ä°stanbul.
21 March 2010, Sunday
HATÄ°CE AHSEN UTKU Ä°STANBUL
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress