Gary Deirmendjian is a Sydney based artist widely recognised for his public interventions - site specific installations which turn materials as disparate as shipping containers and moving image into socially conscious and thought-provoking propositions. Existing temporarily and without seeking justification, mediation or expectation, these works serve as a cause to pause, enticing the passerby into silent dialogues.
Deirmendjian's broader work spans seamlessly across sculpture, installation, intervention, photography and video, where it is the unity of intent that binds the breadth of the output. As he puts it: "I give form to felt thought"
In 1979, at the age of twelve, Deirmendjian migrated from Armenia to Australia. This was an early dislocation which first sharpened his life-long sensitivity to the forces of social conditioning, and the energy which any movement against it demands. His practice continually engages with these tidal mechanics: the "ebb and flow of mass acceptance and unquestioned belief" in which we are so often adrift. Against this wash, there is the "surge underlying the expression" of his works. This surge draws its momentum from "a lifelong pull towards a firming appreciation of our oneness as a single species, and of our extreme smallness in the context of a vast, humming and indifferent universe."
Deirmendjian studied Aeronautical Engineering at the University of New South Wales, graduating with Honours in 1990. A major re-adjustment towards a life of art saw him undertake a Masters in Fine Arts at the National Art School in 2006. He later taught extensively there from 2012 to 2026. In 2017, he was the recipient of the British School in Rome residency. He has been commissioned for major public artworks including pulse at Federation Square, Melbourne in 2020; presence for Wynscreen at Wynyard Station, Sydney in 2016; and a life for The Goods Line at Ultimo, Sydney in 2007. His work is held extensively in private collections, as well as in several public collections including ARoS Kunstmuseum in Denmark, the British School at Rome, McClelland Gallery & Sculpture Park, Werribee Mansion, Western Sydney University, City of Sydney Archives and Macquarie University.
Books published on Deirmendjian's work include Common Ground (Bandicoot Publishing, 2025), covering his work on social media, and the monograph A Prevailing Sense of Disquiet (Hardie Grant Books, 2020), which was also released in the UK.
