From Footprints to Fingerprints: Rethinking Orthographic Drawing via Sarkis

Abstract

Sarkis Zabunyan's OPUS series consists of watercolor interpretations of the plans of architectural structures, built or unbuilt, selected from different times and places, in which the artist has a personal interest. This action, which Sarkis likens to the interpretation of a musical score, is carried out with the finger on paper and then illuminated with a neon frame. While the resulting product has the appearance of an architectural plan, it also acquires a completely independent quality which reveals a critical distance. By dividing the architectural plan into both indexical and iconic signs, the fingerprint shakes the iconic representational relationship created by orthographic projection and makes a breakthrough towards the difference by reminding the subject's somatic body and power of action. The paper aims to understand this critical distance and how it reveals new relationships between art, architecture and semiotics. The methodology includes historical analysis, case study and semiotic analysis. By disrupting traditional sign relations, Sarkis questions the modern orthographic projection system and opens the door to new possibilities of representation. It is possible to consider Sarkis' artistic approach as a method to discover the potentials inherent in architectural representation and to instrumentalize them in design processes.