Karine Matsakyan was born in Gyumri, Armenia, in 1959. She studied at the Yerevan State Academy of Arts and Theatre and joined the group 3rd–րդ հարկ (3rd Floor) in 1987 and gained recognition in avant-garde circles as one of the leading figures in gender-conscious art. Karine Matsakyan is a painter, performance artist and teacher. She has been teaching at an art school in Yerevan since the late 1980s. She lives and works in Yerevan

Matsakyan has been exhibiting in galleries since 1987. In 2001, she co-represented Armenia at the Venice Biennale and was invited to Austria by the Kultur Kontakt Foundation in the same year. In 2003, she was featured in the exhibition Getting Closer. Four Armenians Seek a Way Out in Berlin and Bonn. In 2007, she took part in the group exhibition at MOCA Lyon, France, ‘Arménie contemporaine: une actualité de l’art vidéo’. This was followed by exhibitions and participation in art fairs in London, New York and Beirut.

Image: Karine Matsakyan, Untitled, three torsos, 1991, print on paper, 30 x 42 cm