Part of the new generation of Armenian artists who came to the fore after the collapse of the USSR, Samvel Saghatelian (also known as Sam Saga) has emerged as one of the more uncompromising faces of his time.

Having studied architecture, Saghatelian made a rapid transition to contemporary art, although his architectural background continues to inform much of his practice to this day. His first works were paintings, exhibited in 1988 and have since expanded in scope and media to include everything from photography to video, installation and performance. Despite the technical and formal breadth of his oeuvre, Saghatelian remains remarkably consistent in his exploration of social conditioning of sexuality and sexuality’s political dimensions. To this end, he is a singular figure in contemporary Armenian art, which has rarely addressed issues of sexual identity as persistently and directly as Saghatelian.

Drawing from the repertoire of ‘classical’ post-modernism, Saghatelian’s works, in general, follow the principle of collage and assemblage. Whether paintings, photographs, sculptures or installations, the artist’s works deftly mix images and iconography that often lead to shocking combinations and provocation. Religion meets pornography, family values face anarchy, while gender stereotypes are so amplified that they eventually self-combust. Yet, what makes these provocations more than  ironic, dismissal of patriarchal values, is the evident sympathy with which the artist ‘attacks’ the institutions of ‘nation’. Saghatelian finds within the conservatism of his native culture a certain eroticism and  repressed desire. Behind the outlandish surface of Saghatelian’s series such as ‘Grotesques’, ‘Transromance’ and ‘Body: ghost phallus’ flows the gravity of emotional truth, transcending the irony of the post-modern to reveal the tenderness of desire and human frailty.

In 2001, Saghatelian was selected as one of the participating artists in the Armenian Pavilion of Venice Biennale. Working between Yerevan and Los Angeles, he has held numerous solo exhibitions in Armenia, Europe and the USA.

Recently, Saghatelian has made more direct efforts towards socio-political engagement through his work. A number of projects, such as a 2014 collaborative photo-installation created with the help of female inmates in an Armenian prison, addresses issues of alienation, stigma and invisibility which plague the ‘voiceless’ strata of Armenian society. Since his 2012 participation in the ‘Shushi Art Project’, this inclusive line of artistic inquiry has become a new stage of development in Saghatelian’s art and can be considered an important contribution to the contemporary art scene in Armenia.

Vigen Galstyan, 2016