Serj Tankian | Kiwi in Pangea: {Suite} Ponsonby & Wellington

Grammy Award winning Armenian American musician, artist and activist Serj Tankian is exhibiting at {Suite} Ponsonby and {Suite} Wellington in February 2023. 

On show now across both galleries, this solo exhibition will include a selection of paintings, each accompanied by a musical score composed by Tankian that is as integral to the work as the paint itself.

The musical compositions complementing each work can be accessed by visitors in the gallery by scanning the paintings with Arloopa, a free application for iOS and Android devices. This utilisation of smartphone technology to realise the intertwined relationship between music and art in the gallery setting is the first of its kind. You are encouraged to bring your own headphones to take advantage of a personalised viewing and listening experience.

"My music always has been nonconformist and challenging – and revolting at times,” says Tankian. “I paint the same way. I don't look at what people do, I don't paint within the parameters. I do what my intuition tells me to do. When I’m painting, I am free as an artist. My hands go where they're supposed to go, I don't know what I’m doing. But I never knew what I was doing as a musician either, I just created and was confident in the fact that it is coming from a good place.  I’m still in the phase where I’m surprised by the output. I am lost in this exploratory, beautiful, colorful world and I am grateful.”