REVIEWS

“Gregory Barsamian’s three-dimensional animated sculptures probe some of the fundamental dilemmas of human existence while celebrating the potency of dreams...”—Kinetica Museum

“Gregory Barsamian’s work exists in a profound confrontation with reality. Theatrical in the sense that it takes place in a darkened space before a passively engaged audience, his sculpture relies almost completely on the viewer, because what the viewer sees, seemingly fully present and tangible, is, in fact, not there... seeing the pieces in action is the point.” — Kathleen Whitney, International Sculpture Center

“Extracinematic Animation: Gregory Barsamian in Conversation with Suzanne Buchan”

“... there is no doubting the sheer visual magic of Artifact, the sculpture by Gregory Barsamian ... ”
—Levin, The Village Voice

“In Mr. Barsamian’s world, angels look like menacing aircraft, book knowledge does not begin to lead us beyond what he sees as our prehistoric selves, and no matter how fast we run we can only stay in place. This is an artist who sees self-importance and self-deception everywhere and wants people to stop for a moment and take a good look at themselves and their myths.” — Michael Brenson, The New York Times

“No less literally highminded was Barsamian's imagery of airborne metamorphosis... worth inspecting”
— Bill Berkson, Art In America

“Even though Barsamian primarily works in the realm of sculpture, his work also incorporates animation in order to evoke dream imagery and emphasize the element of time as explained in the foregoing.  In this way, Artifact opposes Clement Greenberg’s declaration that each artistic practice should be based in its unique and discrete realm of experience by using the characteristic means of that practice in order to narrow and ‘to entrench it more firmly in its area of competence’ (Greenberg, 107).  By crossing the boundaries between sculpture and animation, Artifact defies Greenberg’s modernist stance (that is now so obviously dated) and presents a paradigm shift.” — David Buncel, Artwrite

“Taking on the visual illusion known as ‘persistence of vision’, Die Falle is a large-scale zoetrope of a man’s reality in dream-time. On viewing, rationality is left behind and we descend into a world of uncertainty, perceiving the fine line between reality and illusion.”
—Kinetica Museum

“It has the same unnerving, but hypnotic sensation of the supernatural stop-motion effects of early cinema” — Kevin Holmes, Vice

“Juggler expresses aspects of hope and  conflict between man and machine...” —Kei Kamikanda, ICC

“This keenness to probe the limits of gestalt perception is also at the source of Barsamianʼs strobing, animating sculptures.”— David Brody, “The Grampy of the Mystical”

Selected Periodicals & Reviews

• Curtis, Elissa. Photo Booth: A Tribute To Sex and Death: David Walsh and MONA, The New Yorker, January 14, 2013
  
• Whitney, Kathleen.  “Gregory Barsamian and the Flying Dream, International Sculpture Center, Vol. 31 No. 6, July/August 2012

• Baker, Kenneth. “Critics Preview,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 12, 1993.

• Berkson, Bill. “Report From San Francisco,” Art In America, June 1994.
  
• Blankstein, Amy. “Commissions, Sculpture,” July/August 1997.
  
• Blumenthal Ralph. Exhibition Review. The New York Times, April 19, 1996
  
• Bonetti, David. “A Daring Leap,” San Francisco Examiner, October 12, 1993.
  
• Braff, Phyllis. Exhibition Review, The New York Times, October 16-17, 1995.
  
• Brenson, Michael. Exhibition Review, The New York Times, March 15, 1991.
  
• Dalton, Jenifer. “Just what do you think you’re doing Dave.” Time Out New York, July 1997

• ICC (Inter Communication Centre) Concept Book: “Exploring,” April 24, 1998