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Found Art on Display at Pasco Center

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By Jessica  Bair | The Suncoast News

Published: October 6, 2007

HOLIDAY, Fla. - HOLIDAY, Fla. - Inspired by the 20th century French artist Marcel Duchamp and his urinal sculpture piece "Fountain," artist Vahak Sarkis chose the title for his exhibition here.

The 20-year retrospective of Sarkis' work is based on the criticism Duchamp often received. The "You Call This Art?" exhibit is on display at The Arts Center, 5744 Moog Road, from Oct. 12 until Nov. 10.

The exhibit at the home of the Pasco Arts Council showcases Sarkis' sculptural creations.

Sarkis says this is an "unpredictable and exciting new direction" compared to his early sculptures formed in traditional media such as cast bronze, welded steel, stone and wood carving.

The sculptor has in recent years found new expression through combining found and ready-made objects creating symbolic visual statements, he says.

Found, or ready-made, art is the use of an object that normally serves a mundane, nonartistic, purpose – like a urinal. Duchamp is credited with coining the term "found art."

In each of Sarkis' pieces, he incorporates unrelated items into assemblages to tell a story of current events, mythology, history, or religion.

"The idea that anything can be used as art, opened up a new venue for artists like myself," he said recently.

The Holiday resident, who was raised in Cairo, Egypt, moved to Florida in 1984 and now maintains a studio in Tarpon Springs. He travels extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe finding items to use along the way.

Sarkis says he just returned from the Northeast where he collected three items to be seen in the exhibit.

Before earning a degree in fine arts at the University of South Florida, Sarkis had a 25-year career as a chemistry professor at the State University of New York.

"I wanted a switch from the specific discipline of chemistry to the chaotic world of art," Sarkis explains.

The career change was a "completely liberating experience," he says.

For more than 20 years now, he has exhibited along the East Coast, primarily in New York's Soho and Chelsea districts and across Florida.

Although his last show was in 2002, this exhibition will feature 40 to 45 pieces in a retrospective collection.

He hopes viewers of the current exhibition will be challenged on some level by his work, and a "comment wall" will be available for visitors to add their own thoughts.

The exhibition is free and open to the public.

The collection can be viewed at The Arts Center, which is adjacent to the Centennial Park Branch Library.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A reception with the artist will be Oct. 19, 5 - 7 p.m. For more information contact Pasco Art Council at 727-845-7322.

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