Is it darkness that presumes that light is a breach in itself or vice versa? Which one exists despite the other? And which is settled, which nomadic? Which is the space of the other? Is it the light that spreads or the darkness that swallows? In which is the escape and which the stabbing? Where does time stand within this encounter? If it exists in some particular way here, is it flowing or frozen?

Space seems to have closed off all the exits from itself. This is exactly where the escape and the stabbing are. Everything is going to stay where it is until a winking eye comes along. But with the spark, within the spark, everything gets reborn.

In 1972, Sarkis took a series of photographs in the basement of the building where he lived. In the light of the flash he found bits of spaces that appeared and vanished in a moment, folding over on themselves, scenes of memory: traces, tracks, flowing ribbons...  a couple of things left to die and some plain concrete. 

In the first of the Bunker Exhibitions, each of these photos is accompanied by a yellow watercolor that abstracts from it. This enables each image to be illuminated by its own hidden light. Just like the thin candle that leaves its drops of light in a bowl filled with water with Morton Feldman’s music playing in the background in the scenes on the monitor on the floor of the exhibition space.  

We are in the zone of immanence of light. At a point where black and white come into being in yellow. In a sparkling that turns the invisible into visibility.

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yellow punctum, #1-12, 1973-2017

12 watercolors on 12 b/w photographs

Each

Fine art print, Hahnemühle photorag ultra smooth, 40 × 60 cm

Watercolor, 6 × 9 cm 

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film 066: “in the beginning, dripping”, 26.10.2004

4 min 36 sec

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“Dripping of yellow candle in a small water pot. Accompanied by Morton Feldman’s piano score.”

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a glass of water

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two chairs

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Yellow Punctum

Sarkis

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Editorial concept and design: Bülent Erkmen
Metin: Cem İleri
Photographs: Cemal Emden
Norgunk Publishers

April 2018
ISBN 978 975 8686-90-2
76 pages, 16,5 x 21,5 cm
Garda Kiara 150/200 gr
93 TL