Installations

An all-night commemorative vigil.

“Since our faith has infringed on other’s human rights, we are burdened by the unforgiving Martyr’s spirits. To initiate a return back to the motherland, passive resistance is the conscience for hope.” —Kardash

“The bound nuclei of these pieces provide a continuous link to Kardash’s manifestation of an Armenian swan song, a eulogy for this homeless, diasporan community.”

“Portraits of the Dead reaches us as a talisman, a sculpture that shakes our very essence, our cultural precepts, and yet enables those who share in its theater the option of faith, that same faith which is the foundation of the power of all talismans.”

Charly Hachadourian

The event sought to bring about a crossing of the Turkish-Armenian border, using the 14 Stations of the cross as metaphors for transfourmation.

“Kardash’s proposal represents an attempt to get beyond the prison house of language. An attempt to get past the problem of Babel: so may different languages, so many different words. And none of them do what we really need. None of them capable of transcendence, none of them truly universal, none of them capture the spirit and channel it, releasing the spirit’s energy into the world”.—Mark Van, de Walle

The titular four stones, samples of which Kardash had sent to Germany for crystal- content analysis, originated in various parts of Armenia. Kardash carved the FOUR STONES series in part to study the refracted direction of the stones’ energy flow through the lens effect, which was formed at the stress point of each of the stones.

“Kardash’s inaugural installation of ‘New Tools for Being’, is a conceptual group of sculptures dedicated to cross-cultural synergy. Tony Carretta, who runs New Arts Gallery says he was attracted to Kardash’s work because even if you take the concept away, the quality of the work holds up on its own. The conceptual work may be harder to grasp but the artistry inherent in the direct carving and assemblages is engaging on its own. The concept does not outweigh the craftsmanship.” —Tracey O’Shaughnessy

Direct carvings of four life lines stressed, synergizing.

Experiments in the study of the movements of the Four Tools stressed, synergizing.

In 2006 Kardash began a series of works to honor the 12 artists, madmen, and visionaries who helped him in his quest, Liberation from Freedom. Each of the luminaries have provided him with a chance to develop a three-dimensional, universal, way of being:
Krishnamurti, Prophet Elijah, Yeghia (his father), Gurdjieff, Thoreau, Coltrane, Rumi, Nietzsche, McLuhan, Calder, Brancusi, Raoul Hague.

The installation featured the collaboration of 48 artists from around the world to raise awareness of Gaza’s plight as well as Israelis’ and Palestinians’ struggle to foster mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence.

“Kardash’s Talismans are holders of universal sources, created in harmony with our understanding of the mutual forces that the physical and the metaphysical offer us, and are concrete symbols that serve as a reminder of who we truly are, as a celebration of the rite of life, and as prayers to existent but intangible forces that surround us.” —Alexander Shundi

“… Kardash’s lifetime pursuit of what joins us, not what divides us. He has pursued symbols and forms that intend to unify; crossing borders within and without. This installation puts a light on transformation, not sorrow.”
—Tony Carretta, Curator