Aaran Projects

Match Point
Solo exhibition of Hadi Alijani
Opening at Aaran Projects on 1 December 2017

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.


Match Point is a situation, it is about people who are stranded and have to live with their repressed desires; the crying bride who knowingly is stepping in to her position, Mr. and Mrs. Salimi who are frozen in time, the couple facing future with candles lit and surrounded by realities and boundaries of everyday life. Reactions to a world apparently without a meaning; puppets controlled or influenced by invisible outside forces, a very real theatre of absurdity. Artist is holding a mirror to illustrate the joyless, self-indulgent populace of his world, mostly caught in ordinary moments of their lives, finding no easy solutions for their existence.

Here is an amalgamation of daydreams and recollections; the man who dreams of being a woman, the man that only sees himself in mirrors, the white horse who is the father. In this unique world, nothing is as it should be and everything is as illogical as the artist wants it to be. The world that Hadi Alijani depicts is neither to be believed nor to be explained. It is to exist in perpetuity, forever waiting for the point that will win them the match. A game of chance. Looking for easy solutions or comforting illusions. The backgrounds, glimpsed through either windows or theatrical arches, depict a world of imbalance, where only Mount Damavand seems to be standing firm. Everything else appears to be swimming in a whirlwind of instability, and yet the populace is engaged with their own situations, their own individuality, and existence. Deformation is a trademark of the artist, so are his creatures that are his own. And his unique foliage and wildlife that is as bizarre as the lives of the people who are surrounded by them.

Hadi Alijani’s fascination with Persian Painting is boundless. His deliberations are precise and his unwavering focus results in phenomenal imagery and connotation; the bright and pure colors, the flattened objects, the layers of story and metaphors, and most importantly the promise of hope.

Nazila Noebashari

Where Do I Come From?
Hossein Valamanesh
Opening at Aaran Projects on 27th October.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.


For his first solo exhibition in his home country, Hossein Valamanesh has carefully chosen works that reference many angles and layers of his practice. Pure forms of geometry that are closely connected to natural elements such as fire, earth, and wood, next to works that have deep roots in Persian culture will offer an insight to the probing mind of this artist. The spatial qualities of his oeuvre are manifested in his smaller works but are more visible in his site-specific works. In his public works, he creates a portal between urban life and the natural world while the locality and circumstances of these sites are evidently of the utmost importance to the artist. The same care and attention are paid to the choice of works of this exhibition and their engagement with the space of the gallery.

His practice is rooted in the earth but veiled and delicate references point to that which lies ‘beyond’; there is an overall expression of lightness, at the same time the wisdom engulfing his practice can be traced in every line and word. His engagement with nature and the universe is easily recognizable and reveals a humanity that attracts the viewers. Many of the works are rooted in the rich poetry of Iran both literally and in form. There are traces and layers of personal and social history of the life of an artist who has benefited from two very different cultures, one of his motherland and the other of his adopted country.

While each work stands on its own merits, together they offer a hieroglyphic script. Inscriptions that are visually attractive and represent real or illusional elements and concepts; an indicator of the interconnectedness that is vital to his practice and his fascination with the core of things. Influenced by the Aboriginal art of Australia, and benefiting from the simplicity of the method used by them, his works also evoke ritualistic ideas and are sometimes visibly simplified ideas or forms.

Hossein Valamanesh’s engagement with nature and universe and his absolute devotion to art is self-evident and at last Iranian viewers will be able to marvel at the lightness of his being and the strength of his soul. In his words: My art is about not separating elements such as aesthetics, content, and form from each other. A door is opened and a glimpse of reality is sensed and one realizes its ephemeral nature.

Nazila Noebashari

Primeval, Art of Wood
Group exhibition of works made with/on wood
Curated by Akram Ahmadi Tavana, Commissioned by Aaran Gallery
Opening at Aaran Projects on 1st September, on view until 25th September 2017.

In memoriam and honoring artists:
Arabali Sherveh (1939-2011), Mohammad Ali Madadi (1942-1998), and Mehdi Sahabi (1944-2009).

Exhibiting works by:
Mohsen Vaziri Moghaddam, Behrouz Amiri Rad, Mansour Tabibzadeh, Majid Kamrani, Farhad Ahrarnia, Houman Salimi, Shaqayeq Arabi, Behdad Lahooti, Mehdi Rangchi, Shahryar Gharaei, Yashar Azar Emdadian, and Mohammad Marvasti.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.


Essential to life on earth, trees hold a special place in the collective consciousness of humans: rooted in earth, reaching skyward, nourished by elements, they provide a metaphor for what it means to be human. Each tree has a character, and it is in the strength and density of its grains that a dialogue between the artist and the medium takes shapes.

Wood has an irrevocable history, stories of lush forests, seasons, flora and fauna, and Time that is written in to its rings. The appeal of the primal nature and human’s yearning for it, is perhaps the reason that viewers appreciate art works made of wood in a different way; the perception of the story behind the wood, the Medium itself, and the inherent connection between earth and water and purity of nature.

This exhibition explores forms and concepts of artists, across three generations, who have often chosen wood as their preferred medium. While some works emphasize woods’ natural characteristics, others work against the grain. At the same time the sculptural play and wide ranging distinctive artistic sensibilities and rich symbolism of trees, are evidence of the emotional connection between the art works and the artists.

The aim is also to celebrate how contemporary Iranian artists integrate storytelling and personal narrative in to their work. The rich history of Iran is allegorically referenced to in many of the works at the same time consciously or otherwise many motives of Persian arts are present. Through the use of various tools each artist pushes the boundaries of the medium while taking in to consideration the unique characteristics of wood such as grain, tone, color and texture; a conversation that is encircled with the energy of earth and sun, one that has been engraved in the texture of wood, a purity that is appealing and timeless and primal.

Nazila Noebashari

BORJASS
A project by BORJASS art Group in collaboration with Isoo Gallery of Amol
Hamid Asadzadeh, Farzaneh Gholizadeh, Ali Fazeli, Forouzan Soleimani, Akbar Rad, Mostafa Masoumi, and Shaqayeq Shabani.
Opening at Aaran Projects on 28th July 2017, on view until 25th August.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.


Six artists reveal their preoccupations, varying from concerns for Inequality and Gender discrimination to importance of love, to anxieties over after life. Hosting artists of Borjass Group, of ISOO Gallery based in Amol, for a second year, the exhibition includes works of seven artists with different mediums.

In his new series “Squint”, Hamid Asadzadeh, explores dual perceptions of same concept. In social spectrum that recognizes the symbol more than the axiom and surfaces more than meaning. This dual perception leads to clashes between two visions of same concept. In women of Forouzan Soleimani a defining moment in their lives is pictured. Instants that determines their fate. A moment after which return will not be possible. The paintings refer to the struggle between the inner self and the outside world and resembling Tide of oceans and the underlying force of gravity of earth. Akbar Rad finds humans engulfed in darkness. Surrendered and forgotten and in depths of loneliness. However the play of color and light in these paintings signal presence of hope. Mostafa Masoumi inserts his own mind in to famous paintings of History of art. A conjecture and remaking that connects the young artist to the giants of art. Shaqayeq Shabani registers the ever present emotions and torments. Agonies that she tries to console by covering female body with white paint. A solace for tired souls. Ali Fazeli uses Iranian Birth certificates to show the violations on personal identity. Even a personal document is constantly changing. A document that shows force of geography and dos and don’ts that shape the human identity. Farzaneh Gholizadeh emphasize is on decay of all creatures and concepts. By accepting this inevitable cycle and stressing the role of humans in their own demise as well as that of the nature, a new birth is promised.

Preoccupations
Farnaz Rabieijah, Hamed Rashtian, Nastaran Safaei, Amir Mousavizadeh, Ali Mousavizadeh, and Armin Pourfahimi
Opening at Aaran Projects on 30th June 2017, on view until 24th July.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.


Six artists reveal their preoccupations, varying from concerns for Inequality and Gender discrimination to importance of love, to anxieties over after life.

Armin Pourfahimi builds a temple for Manhood, and criticizes the Discrimination and Gender inequality in our society. Farnaz Rabieijah reveals her anxieties about death and continuity. In Reminiscence, a whooping nine meter length work on paper she traces plants on the fabric of paper, connecting cycle of nature to life of humans. Hamed Rashtian explores the repetitive nature of everyday life. A simple animation is shown on a handmade Praxionscope. Audiences are invited to create their own circle of repetition by manually operating the device. In Stepwise series, Nastaran Safaie paints old Persian rugs, a sac religious act against an ancient art that has taken centuries to perfect. Generations have walked on these carpets and she asks her own generation to take wise steps, prudently and with solid and persistent steps. Amir Mousavizadeh creates a gas station, and the joke is on the user. By falling deeper in to consumerism and devouring our own national wealth, we are accomplices to the international game of exploitation of oil rich countries. Ali Mousavizadeh pays tribute to beauty and importance of love in everyday life. Swans choose one mate and remain faithful to them for their whole life. At the time of death and by night they return to the place where they have met their pair and sing a beautiful song, having been silent most of their life time. A Death that is as beautiful as life itself.

Revolutionaries: The First Decade
Kaveh Kazemi
Exhibition and book Launch (published by Nazar Art Publications)
Opening at Aaran Projects on 19th May 2017, on view until 9th June 2017.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.


Revolutionaries covers a tempestuous decade in Iranian contemporary history. Return of Kaveh Kazemi to Iran coincided with the beginning of revolution in autumn of 1978 and he found himself among masses demanding the end of Shah’s Regime. Images chosen for this book and exhibition are part of a substantial archive of black and white photographs that tell the tale of a very difficult time in our history.

The obvious dynamism and tension in these images are self evidentiary. The interplay of conflicting elements and the suspense and the constant movement of photographer are part of the magnetism of this selection. More than three decades later these images can still evoke emotions and remind us of truth and of sorrows that we can not name.
Artists’ unique vision and his obvious passion for photography, next to major events and upheavals in this exceptional decade, will certainly be an important and valuable addition to the visual memory of the country.

Kaveh Kazemi was born on October 1952, in Tehran, Iran.‎‎‎ His photographic career started in the beginning of Iranian revolution in 1978 and has spanned for more than three decades covering Iran, the region and the world working with major international Media as a freelance photojournalist. His pictures have appeared notably in Time, Newsweek , New York Times, Stern, Der Spiegel, Paris Match, L’Express, Figaro Magazine and Geo. The Crying Soldier picture taken in the early days of Iran-Iraq war on the western front gained international recognition and has been categorized as a war classic. He has covered many different regions of the world including Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Cuba, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iraq.‎‎ Lately he has covered conflicts in Syria in 2012, Mosul Iraq in 2016, and FARC demobilization camp in Columbia in January 2017.He continues to work and cover the region.He is represented by Getty Images where all his archives appear online starting with the coverage of Iranian Revolution to present day.

Nastaran Safaei
Presenting series “Beyond and Above”, “Monuments For That Which is Forgotten”, and “Body Impressions”
Opening at Aaran Projects on 21st April 2017, on view until 12th May 2017.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.


Presenting three sets of recent works, Nastaran Safaei reveals her probing mind and restless quest in her artistic endeavor. In the series, Monument To That Which is Forgotten, she echoes words that are important to her; tranquility, silence, instant, and intuition. She builds monuments to these words to remind herself of importance of what is essential and ought not be lost in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. She coats these Totem like sculptures with cement and sacred soil of her land, wishing them to become eternal and to inspire others as well.

In her second series Above And Beyond, ink transfers body impressions on to canvas fabric. Emotions and unconsciousness are registered through the thinnest of mediums; the Skin. The impact of texture of body, at first pallid and then defined, tranquility and movement and the repetition of the cycle, reveals the connection and disconnection of self with the outside world.

In the series Body Impressions, the dots and dotted lines, register and connect the path of evolution of artist. The intimacy and playfulness in these three sets of works are indicators of her perseverance and maturity and are the fruit of her labors in the last one decade.

Parkingallery Projects in collaboration with Aaran Gallery, Rooberoo Mansion, Polish Embassy in Tehran and New Media Society presents:

LIMITED ACCESS 7
International Festival for Moving Images, Sound and Performance

April 7-12, 2017
Closing Event: Rooberoo Mansion
April 14, 2017

Venues: Aaran Gallery, Rooberoo Mansion, Aaran Projects, and New Media Projects
Curators: Rambod Vala, Pouria Jahanshad, Amirali Ghasemi, Leonie Roessler, Helia Hamedani, Pooya Abbasian, Sohrab Kashani, Dafne Narvaez Berlfein, and Magdalena Ziolkowska

For daily program please visit:
www.limitedaccessfestival.com


Limited Access Forum 7, will showcase latest from the vibrant and often unseen video art scene of Iran

Other programs are:

Art, City and the Politics
Curated by Pouria Jahanshad
Researcher of interdisciplinary studies between movie and contemporary art and director of Fresh Documentary Event Group

Sentimental Punk
Curated by Dafne Narvaez Berlfein

Procedures of Everyday Practice
Curated by Magdalena Ziółkowska
Part of Seismograph on tour
Partner: Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, Krakow

Remote Homecoming Chapter Two
Curated by Amirali Ghasemi
From Parking Video Library
Remote Homecoming is a platform designed to bring videos made by Iranians across the border remotely back home, and to bridge the gap between so called “inside” and “outside”.

From Here to There
Curated by Leonie Roessler
A playlist of recent electronic works from artists who are playing the field now. True diversity in sound and heritage – Iranian, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Irish – to name a few. Made of real sounds and artificial ones, ranging from direct to sharp to static to quickly moving to grand to elusive…
Compiled for Limited Access 7, to be heard in concert and then as an ongoing installation.

Re-visit; Early Iranian Videos from 90s
Curated by Parking video Library
Re-visit tries to showcase some early examples of Iranian video art from mid 90s to 00s.This research-screening overlooks at a decade of this rather emerging practice in the context of reappearing the term “Iranian contemporary art”.

Afterimage
Curated by Rambod Vala

Untitled, An Animation program
Curated by Pooya Abbasian

PARALLEL PROGRAM
Pejman Foundation: Kandovan
Shattered Frames: Recent video work from Iran
Curated by Sohrab Kashani
In collaboration with Conflict Kitchen and the Center for the Arts in Society at Carnegie Mellon University.

Life Lines
Amir Hossein Akhavan
An exhibition to benefit Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation
In Collaboration with Etemad Gallery
Opening at Aaran Projects on 3rd February 2017, on view until 10th February.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.


The technique and compositions that Akhavan employs leave us with no other way of seeing them. His creatures are not meant to evoke a sense of nostalgia. They are not “beautiful” in the classical, nature sense. We won’t get a chance to regret having lost what used to be. We find ourselves in an art gallery in the middle of Tehran, faced with pixelated images that from a distance can form an impressionistic whole. Tehran, in turn, is a pixelated ecology that draws insatiably from its natural surroundings. It attracts resources from near and far. It is a city connected to the planet in direct ways. As citizens of this city, we have access to products that come from all corners of the world, neatly packaged in a promise of good things to come. We, citizen, it, Tehran, want more – food, comfort, and the promise of good things to come. So on and so forth…
Excerpt from catalogue by Sohrab Mahdavi

Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation is an Iranian not-for-profit non-governmental organization funded by the public. It operates under license granted by Iran’s Department of Environment and is supervised by a Board of Trustees that sets the policies and budgets and oversees all financial activities.
Goals and mission PWHF was established to help safeguard our natural heritage, with a clear focus on wildlife and natural habitats. It is our mission to improve the conditions of and reduce pressures on wildlife habitats by conducting biological and social field surveys, direct conservation actions on the ground, raising ecological awareness amongst local communities.
Join to Save the Wild.

Website: http://www.persianwildlife.org
E-mail: info@persianwildlife.org
Facebook: PersianWildlifeHeritageFoundation
Instagram: @persianwildlife
Youtube: PersianWildlifeHF

A Few Credible Stories
Group Exhibition
Opening on 20th January 2017 up to 31st January 2017.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.


Artists: Parastou Ahadi, Doras Asadi, Shabnam Lohrasbi, Roghayeh Najdi, Pooneh Oshidari, Mahdieh Pazoki, Leyli Rashidi Raouf, Nastaran Safaei, and Rene Saheb.

The story is that Shahryar, the king finds out that his wife is not virtuous and decides to marry a virgin every night, and to behead them by morning, allowing no time for unfaithfulness. He carries on in this manner until his choice falls on Sheherazade, the daughter of the vizier. The king did not know that Sheherazade had studied philosophy and sciences and arts and that she was pleasant, polite and clever. Her stories and ingenuity and wisdom, changed his attitude and outcome of the night, and she continues to inspire and influence the world after centuries from inception of the story.
This exhibition assembles works of nine female story tellers, stories that can only be narrated by women. The aim is to demonstrate their tenderness and initiative and to celebrate their perseverance and humility. Each have found their own unique visual language; a language of compassion and sensitive approach to mostly social issues with emphasize on their own standing in life and the peripheral.
In 1936, twelve women entered Tehran University and as of 2006 women account for more than half of university entries in Iran, however everyday life is mostly controlled by male decision makers, who habitually are not ready to relinquish control or to share power. The dynamic presence of women in every arena in Iranian society today is the result of years of perseverance and determination of generations past and wise men who chose to support them.
It is said that Ishtar the Goddess of Love and power, approaches the gates of the underworld and demands that the gatekeeper open them:
If thou openest not the gate to let me enter
I will break the door, I will wrench the lock
I will smash the door-posts, I will force the doors…

The Life of an Itinerant Through a Pinhole
Portraits and places by Gholamreza Amirbeigi
Narrated by: Behzad Khosravi Noori
Opening on 30th December 2016 up to 16th January 2017.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.


Excerpts from catalogue:

The photographs are the story of the life of a people who migrated to Tehran after the Second World War, a migration that lasted until 1956 due to the effects of war and the subsequent economic devastation and epidemic bankruptcy of smaller cities. This particular group of people migrated from Maimeh, a small city halfway between Kashan and Isfahan in the center of the Iranian plateau. They found a place to live in the southwest District 17 of Tehran; near Emamzadeh Hassan, the most populated district in Tehran with 4 times the population of other districts. (Behzad Khosravi Noori)

I have looked at all the photographs. I walk my mind throughout the atmosphere of all these photographs and I pause here where the collection breaks from tradition and extends beyond the framework of the role and function of photography during grandfather’s period of productivity. It is the impromptu situations, or the relaxed and unconstrained themes as well as the photographer, or the departure from the routine redundant posing for the camera, the unnecessary arrangements of black drapes and the disregard for the macro-standards of photography of that era, meaning distancing from the common passage of events before the lens in order to keep a connection with time and history; and of course, memorialization. (Pirooz Kalantari)

Behzad Khosravi Noori has laboriously retraced the technology behind these pictures and found its origin. This apparatus is a rudimentary camera obscura; basically a pinhole camera of the type that is still today used in e.g. Afghanistan, in Brazil and on Cuba. He also tentatively identified the person referred to above as ‘Pilgrim’ and ‘Revolutionary’ as his grandfather, Gholamreza.(Charlotte Bydler)

Photographs are more than images. They are social objects, filled with alternative histories. They evoke memories, stories. They tell stories of the social changes in the contemporary Iran from below. Today, more than a half century after the photographs were taken, photographed subjects, men and women, old and young have entered the exclusive art salons, looking back at us and demand recognition. A recognition they have been denied while alive. (Shahram Khosravi)


Behzad Khosravi Noori (Tehran 1976) is an artist and writer based in Stockholm and Tehran. He graduated from Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran, with a Master in Motion Picture and Master in Art in Public Realm at Konstfack University College of Art and Design, where he focused on multiple identities within the discourse of European multiculturalism and hyper-politicized socio-political environments. Currently he is holding a PhD position at Konstfack/KTH in Stockholm.

Visage/Image of Self
Curated by Fereydoun Ave
Opening at four spaces in Tehran on 9th December 2016

It Is Fall
Behdad Lahooti
Opening on 11th November 2016 up to 24th November 2016.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.

Behdad Lahooti in his fourth solo exhibition at the gallery, explores the very idea and discipline of sculpting . With an indifferent posture, artist insists that the works are not determinative or symbolic. They are also neither representational nor instructive. These pieces that appear to have come out of an industrial conveyor belt, have lost their function, but the essence of their beauty as found in nature is accentuated.
For centuries humans have controlled the nature, fearing it and trying to regulate it and at the same time extract what they need from it. Artist chooses organic shapes and by enlarging and painting them with jazzy colors that are part of modern day life, he creates his own “natural domain”; fabricated out of a homogenous synthetic mass of material made for technological civilizations of our era.
The installation of literally hundreds of pieces creates layers and patterns, with pauses and silences. There is an emphasis on spatial aspects of sculpting, large installation are the final work, or not; the choice falls on the viewer. But it is through the installing of the pieces that artist re-conceives the media of sculpture, in fact in this way the media can be stretched to infinity. By avoiding reference and symbolism, these works are parody of representation, and refuse to pretend to be anything but themselves. Nothing is in itself more this than that. Through appropriation of nature Behdad Lahooti creates his own Readymades, and by his illogical but measured and balanced set ups he betrays his skepticism and uncertainties in our Age of Doubt.

Invisible and Indefinite
Nasser Bakhshi
Opening on 7th October 2016 up to 24th October 2016.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.

Nasser Bakhshi is preoccupied with images that relate to time and space and ultimately The existence. Through his large scale paintings and by painting found objects, he relates his concerns and fears. Painting is the instrument of conversation for this very quiet artist. He engages the viewer and narrates his tales; creating imagery that is communal and allude to turbulences and apprehensions of a nation in state of flux.

The images are all connected and collectively they offer an insight to the unique world of the artist. The remoteness of some images next to the tenderness of others, show fears and realities next to vitality of existence, and together they celebrate life.

His exceptional skill and hard work has endeared him to many audiences in Iran and outside the country. In words of Master Aydin Aghdashloo: Nasser Bakhshi carries on in the solitude of his studio, in a neat and narrow alley of the city of Tabriz, where he lives. He is bashful, and shy and dignified. He is an exemplary human being who has inherited the serenity, politeness and perseverance of his ancestors. He is not bound by fame, commercial success or praise. He is attached to his solitude. If you gain entrance to his studio, you can find tens of excellent and first rate art works. He will not abandon Tabriz. Citizens of his city pass him by, with respect, without knowing and realizing what a gem lives among them, and what a pity that his solitude does not let his character lighten up his alley, city and country even more.

The Third Narrative
Allahyar Najafi
Opening on 16th September 2016 up to 3rd October 2016.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.

The 2/5 dimensional lenticular imagery that every vendor has, are like windows to another world; windows that narrate only part of the story. When you put them next to each other a larger image is unveiled and the story becomes more explicit. It is as if imagination is given larger leeway to create a circumstance that allows for the story to happen . A new time and different status that reveals a new imagery. A two dimensional narrative in a two and half dimensional space, with colors and glaze estranged from reality.
This 2/5 dimensional setting has an impact on the viewer; the viewer is forced to move to see the complete story and is even allowed to take part in completion of the story. These stories show off their layers and betray the new space and status that they rely upon, and metaphorically reference the inconsistency of the story and the place it happens in.
In essence, the process is improvised; the image is disconnected from the back ground and this detachment is recognizable. In fact the viewer is simultaneously confronting two different kinds of imagery each with their own singular description and resolution. Because of the new imagined portrayal, the viewer recedes from reality and in fact a new narrative is unveiled, which is another dimension and which does not cover the original story . Concurrently all these elements create a Third Narrative.
Allahyar Najafi

BOOK AS HOUSE
An exhibition of Artist Books curated by Foad Farahani

Mehdi Hosseini, Hossein Valamanesh, Saed Meshki, Saeed Ravanbakhsh, Milad Parvaz, Homa Delvaray, Sina Seifee, Foad Farahani, Maryam Farshad, Behzad Motebaheri and Elmira Mirmiran.

Opening on 26th August, until 12th September 2016.

Aaran Projects
No. 5, Lolagar st., Neauphle Le Chateau.
Tel +98 21 66702233
Working days, except Saturdays 1-7 PM and Fridays 4-8 PM.

Artist books are not meant to be read. They are often indecipherable objects, with uncommon language. Images are words and colors and textures replace narratives.
Contained within the form of a book, they allow for artistic freedom to govern and create an abstraction; different elements are combined to create a space, a house. They are hard to interpret and do not necessarily educate or inform the viewer.
This exhibition attempts to show the diversity in Artist Books created in recent years by Iranian artists of different generations and oeuvres.

For the catalogue of exhibition curator Foad Farahani writes:
Artists’ books are multi-dimensional,multi lingual and multi media, and are “magical spots”. A medium that in absences of phrases (weightlessness) is materialized in a temporal chain. Here what is meant by book, is a place not only to deliberate in but to reside in; substantiated in the form of language, in the delay of utterance, in the intended timing and spacing (of the page) or in a temporal-spatial continuum.
Artist books are personalized element of a structure. Book is a structure, a “House” perhaps. Opening or not, entering, pausing, rooms…spaces…pages, forward, backward and to leap from one to another; thus spaces are reordered.

Pulp Narratives
Opening at Aaran Projects on 15th July 2016.

Artists:
Tara Azarm, Leila Imani, Ghazaleh Bahiraie, Fatemeh Bahman Siahmard, Tarlan Tabar, Saman Khosravi, Ali Asghar Khatibzadeh, Afshan Daneshavar, Rene Saheb, Sadegh Sadeghipour, Nastaran Safaei, Kiarash Alimi, Sara Ghanbari, Mina Mohseni, and Masoumeh Mohtadi.

This exhibition aims to show the preoccupations and concerns of a group of artists with diverse practices; Narrations in Pulp that next to each other create a Hall of Mirrors, and consequently a funnel to our times: Nastaran Safaei’s compositions resemble bouquets for an event long forgotten. Pages from a famous women’s magazine of yester years, with pallid and faded colors, enact the theme of life’s transience and fragility. Fatemeh Bahman Siahmard’s large scale drawings create tensions between spatial occupations- actual and imagined- and are charged with energy. Viewer struggles to make the image coherent and through intricate lines artist forces the onlooker to visualize a three dimensional space. Ali Asghar Khatibzadeh who is a playwright transfers his visualizations on to pulp of discarded newspapers. Tragic and comic characters from his favorites writers are moved in to the real world to recite the stories that have fascinated audiences for generations; “Arjasb” of Shahnameh, “Medea” by Euripides and the ever present Clown. Leila Imani focuses her attention on superb delineation in Persian Paintings and by extracting figures from well known imagery of manuscript paintings, offers different readings of age old traditions. Kiarash Alimi’s large scale flowers stand firmly in their isolated world, patient, unyielding and superbly beautiful. The fabulous simplicity of these paintings are a reminder of splendor of life and the plausible lightness of being. Masoumeh Mohtadi creates books that are talebearer of our times. The book speaks of the gloomy disappearance of the ancient lake of the Assyrians, lake Urumieh. The lake that can be the last habitat of Artemia, a 100 million year species that exists as part of the cycle of nature. Unlike humans that disregard the balance of nature for their own ambitions and survival, Artemia, the ancient being, has resisted change. Ghazaleh Bahiraie is a child of our mega city. She has walked the alleys and streets of her beloved city and offers parodies and her own lived experience. Next to her video, her drawings resemble Silhouette Portrait paintings. Through the black and white drawings artist cuts out the cityscapes; tracing lines around the shadows of the city and telling the stories of its citizens. Saman Khosravi takes us back to his childhood. Having grown up in volatile Kurdistan of Iran, and raised amid war and violence, his simple models of aircrafts that are reminiscent of childhood games at schools, is adapted to tell the tale of horrors of war and a childhood that never was. Rene Saheb has consistently used fables and proverbs of our language to criticize and comment on life around her. By bringing the story of Three Wise Monkeys on to paper, she reminds us of the ancient Zoroastrian inbuilt beliefs in all that is good. Mina Mohseni retells the story of the great flood, refreshing the legend of Noah and his survival. The uncertainty of our times and the consistent struggle of humanity against manmade and natural disasters is a large part of the history of the region. Using sheets of wavy transparent plastic to cover her suspended paintings, she forces the viewer to reconsider their perceptions. Afshan Daneshvar, in her delicate compositions and absorbed in her practice, assembles bits of papers that are reminiscent of strings of something that was once was. Re-building a new page, re-assigning morsels and creating a new presence. The final result are Silent and solid entities that are fragile in essence. Sara Ghanbari tackles the subjects of time and memories and how our perception of life changes as time goes by. She illustrates a suspended space: between present and the past. In her twin paintings, she successfully portrays the flow of time and by re-producing the images, she raises the question of vitality and perception of memories, walking on the edge of memories. Tara Azarm with her set of drawings steps in to realm of concept, erosion and passage of time. Her forms seek to establish new structures out of ambiguous circumstances. Her shapes – with no apparent purpose- change from one thing to another and disappear and reappear in a fusion of the real and the imagined. Tarlan Tabar, pictures what she has seen in her subconscious for a long time. In her works Narcissism and absurdity are in conflicting path with eternity and perpetuity. She alternates between agony and ecstasy and offers her interpretation in lively colors as well as in large scale ink drawings. Sadegh Sadeghipour is a book man. His life is spent in a large book shop every day. The books take the shape of sculptures in his intricately hand cut books. If books are to become obsolete in the 21st century, what better alternate than transforming them to a beautiful sculptural piece and keep them around in one way or another.

Solo exhibition of Yashar Azar Emdadian
Opening at Aaran Projects on 20th May 2016.

This exposition is the result of five continuous years of artistic practice, with concentration on concepts such as identity, borders, psychological warfare, immigration and Paranoia. In this exhibition artist aims to transfer these concepts to his practice and by adding nominative dimension, establishes a direct connection with the audience and offers his own perceptions of some of the most important social and political concerns of a generation that has grown up with two cultures.
The art works presented in this exhibition are not a series but they are all connected and are a continuation of each other. The choice of works and the varied mediums such as sculpture, video, installation and print, are part of artists emphasize on choosing each medium as a fitting format to carry his message through.

Yashar Azar Emdadian, born in 1981, Yashar is born to a family of renowned Iranian artists. He has grown up in Paris and his character is shaped with his dual culture of his home country and his adapted country France. For the past three years he has Moved to Iran and lives out of the Mega City of Tehran. He is born to a family of renowned Iranian artists and having been surrounded with arts throughout his life, He has experimented with different mediums such as print, photography, painting and sculpture. He has worked with artists like Davoud Emdadian, Reza Deghati, Frank Denon and Sylvie Lejeune.

Solo exhibition of Hadi Alijani
Opening at Aaran Projects on 22nd April.

The art works of Hadi Alijani, despite their narrative content and delicate humor,communicate a far more important theorem than proposing to explain the works. These paintings demonstrate the complex task of artist in maximizing the application of all aspects of the language of medium of painting. An attempt to utilize the limited resources of this language to achieve composition, coordination between the narration and fantasia, form and ornaments. Art for all time, has struggled to illustrate the subject, whether narrative or not, but the other aim has been to demonstrate the challenge of artist with the concept of beauty. The concept of beauty is farther than observing visual rules and conventions which are limited to a circle of principles. Beauty is about recognizing and forming an assortment of disciplines, relationships or ideas, and part of what artist attempts to do is to purposefully contemplate on how best to attract and fascinate the viewer and hold their attention.
In his recent series, within the frame work of a narrative and visual fantasia, Alijani exhibits his mental and physical challenges. The carefully devised plans, humans and animals in his paintings are indictors of his scrutiny and efforts to merge cubist shapes with forms adapted from Persian Painting. At the same time the minute and dense motives with thick and eroded textures are plainly tangible and physical. As a result of his mindful utilization of the narrative and visual details, his paintings depict a unique world of phantom and beauty, which next to the story line, are representation of the serious challenges of artist in creating his own language and exhibit his dictum on subject of beauty.
Behrang Samadzadegan

Persian Gardens
Opening at Aaran Projects on 8th April 2016.

Artists:
Fereydon Ave, Hadi Hazavie, Shirin Neshat, Mandana Moghaddam, Arita Shahrzad, Behdad Lahooti, Bita Ghezelayagh, Hadi Alijani, Ghassem Mohammadi, Tanaz Amin, Ziba Rajabi, Hadith Fakhr, Parisa Taghipour, and Hamid Arabi.

Here in this carpet lives an ever-lovely spring; un-scorched by summer’s ardent flame, safe too from autumn’s boisterous gales, mid winter’s cruel ice and snow, still gaily blooming. Eyes hot-seared by desert glare find healing in its velvet shade. Splashing foundations and rippling pools, in cool retreats sore-wearied limbs restore, and tired hearts awake with joy once more. The way was cruel.

Baffled by monotony and mocked by phantoms delirious, beset by stalking death in guises manifold; The dreaded jinns, the beasts ferocious, the flaming heat and the exploding storms; form all these perils here at last set free; in the Garden all find security.

Here the long-laboring Earth at last gives birth. From apparent death, a new and lovely world is born; below the desert’s dusty floor, the jacinth imprisoned lies. The stony wilderness so bleak and bare, in ageless patience broods, aware of a life within, the promise of fertility and abundance. Ever longing for deliverance. The world at last reveals its destiny.

Can we not then capture and restore the loveliness that gave us hope, still brightly mirrored on memory’s gliding waters or snared in the poets’ invisible net, so wide, so fragile, yet captor and conqueror of realities elusive?

Wrought in gold and azure, bright as carved metal. Dream-like foliage in sparking tones is caught, or else, in sumptuous shades of glossy lacquer, quiet but intense; in muffled browns and honey pure, jasper cool and mellow cinnabar, that fairy land comes real again.

In sudden collisions find sweet embrace; in rhythms enchanting, with stately pace, or rollicking speed; emerging, retreating, Reversing, in peaceful finality. Their conflicts reconcile, all in confederation blending Like a chorus in part-song gladly singing, in contrapuntal play rejoicing, floating soft or wildly free; yet anchored in eternity.

Fearless, The Next Wave of Artists from Iran
Curated by Fereydoun Ave

The exhibition will be held simultaneously in Tehran and Dubai.
Opening at three spaces in Tehran on 11th March at Aaran Projects, O Gallery and Lajevardi Foundation. And at Total Arts, Courtyard in Dubai, on 14th March 2016.

List of artists:
Sara Abbasian – Sasan Abri – Nasser Bakhshi – Reza Bangiz – Afshan Daneshvar – Habib Farajabadi – Soussan Farjam – Nariman Farokhi – Farhad Gavzan – Kasra Golrang – Mohamad Hossein Golamzadeh – Vahid Hakim – Hadi Hazavei – Mehrdad Jafari – Ebrahim Khadem-Bayat – Nogol Mazloumi – Arsia Moghadam – Amir Mohamadzadeh – Omid Moshksar – Kaveh Najmabadi – Farokh Nooroney – Mehrdad Pournazarali – Ali Razavi – Ashkan Sanei – Baktash Sarang – Sadegh Sadeghipour – Sharvin Shahrokh – Sepehr Mesri – Mohamad Reza Yazdi – Hossein Ali Zabehi – Zahra Navaie – Parichehr Tayebi – Pourang Pirataie.

Fearless is about 33 artists from Iran who have been working and working regardless of the market’s madness because they are manically obsessed with what they do. These 33 artists have been expressly chosen from various generations, from 25 to 75 years old. There is no age for being an obsessive courageous lunatic working silently.
“It is always hard choosing 33 artists from so many unsung heroes but it has to be done so apologies for not having enough space to include everyone.” Says Fereydon Ave, who has carefully selected pieces by these artists. “None of these artists have had media or market attention because of their obsession with work and not personal hype, so I am glad to champion them.” In a time and space where nothing changes fundamentally to keep on working on personal visions is fearless and to see fear as the only real censorship is to come out of the shadow.
The paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations in the exhibition encompass both figurative and abstract works, different in style and medium, and created by artists drawing on vastly different social, political and stylistic influences. Fereydoun Ave

Limited Access, The Sixth Edition
A festival of moving image, sound and performance.
Parkingallery Projects in collaboration with New Media Society and Aaran Gallery.
The event will be held at Aaran Projects, between 26th February to 2nd March 2016.

Limited Access, as an independent mobile and non competitive project was introduced in 2007 and in the past eight years has been held in Tehran, Cairo, London, Mashad, Shiraz and Esfahan.
Limited Access refers to the fragmented structure of the New Media art scene in Iran, and endeavors to be a platform for assembly, international exchange and screening of rarely seen art works in the field of Moving Images (Video, Documentary, shot film, animation, and independent Cinema), sound art and performance..

In the sixth edition besides “the archipelago” video program curated by Amir Ali Ghassemi – a blending of open calls and invitations-, various video programs Selected by International curators, will be screened.

“Out of The Box”, curated by Alessandra Pace, lecturer, curator and art historian based in Berlin, is an assemblage of phenomenal video artists who continuously expand the confines of this media.
The collection “VIDÉOGRAPHE IN TEHRAN” ”, selected by Audrey Brouxel & Karine Boulanger, from Montreal, offers examples of notable trends of video art in Quebec.
Marika Kuźmicz, who will be traveling to Tehran for the purpose, will be presenting and introducing the Polish Avant Garde video art of the 1970s.
Sanaz Mazinani and Mark Mayer, by presenting “Physical Limits”, question the physical and psychological limitations of the body, from daily domestic routines to the pressures of conforming to societal norms.
Limited Access Six, will be completed with special screenings and related talks and few installations, will be on view until 2nd March.

The daily program will be posted on: www.limitedaccessfestival.com

Opening at Aaran Projects on 29th January.

This exhibition is dedicated to ten of the leaders, activists and journalists who were brutally murdered during the Constitutional Revolution in Iran (1905-1907). Their names are engraved on conscience and history of this country:
Mirza Reza Jahangir Khan Sour Esrafil – Journalist
Sheikh Ahmad Rouh ol Ghodos – Journalist
Malek ol Motekalemin – Leader and Grand orator of Constitutionalists
Ghazi Ardaghi – Activist
Mirz Ebrahim Agha Tabrizi – Member of Parliament and Journalist
Seyed Jamal ol Din Vaez Esfahani – Leader of Constitutionalists
Sheikh Ahmad Rouhi – Activist and Journalist
Seyed Mohammad Tabatabaie – Leader and Activist
Saqat ol Eslam Tabrizi – Leader and activist and Author
Prince Yahya Miraz Eskandari – Member of Parliament and Journalist

The Persian Constitutional Revolution took place between 1905 and 1907. The revolution led to the establishment of a Parliament in Iran and opened the way for cataclysmic changes in Persia, heralding the modern era and the rule of law and promising freedom of speech.
The monarch Mozaffar ad-Din Shah signed the constitution in 1906, but he died shortly after and was replaced by his son, Mohammad Ali Shah. The latter abolished the constitution and in June of 1908, with support of British and Russians, bombarded the Parliament. Russian colonel Vladimir Liakhov who was the commander of the Persian Cossack forces, formed as a elite cavalry unit in 1879, lead the forces in shelling the Majles, killing hundreds of people and later on executing leaders and Journalists of the Constitutional Movement. The Shah kept himself confined to his residence at Bagh-e Shah fort in west of Tehran. A number of captured constitutionalists were imprisoned at Bagh e Shah and tortured and killed.
In retaliation and by July 1909, pro-Constitution forces marched from provinces of Azerbaijan and Gilan towards the capital and were joined with forces of tribes of Bakhtiari and Qasqai. They were able to capture Tehran and re-establish the constitution.
On 16th July 1909, the parliament voted to place Mohammad Ali Shah’s 11-year-old son, Ahmad Shah on the throne. Mohammad Ali Shah abdicated and fled to Russia, later to Turkey and died in San Remo Italy. Every Shah of Iran since Mohammad Ali Shah has died in Exile.

A selection by Behrang Samadzadegan and Aaran Gallery
Fereydon Ave – Hossein Valamanesh
Shaqayeq Arabi – Hamid Arabi – Mohamad Eskandari – Nasser Bakhshi – Fatemeh Bahman Siahmard – Sahand Hesamiyan – Elaheh Hosseini – Baktash Sarang Javanbakht – Amir Nasr Kamgooyan – Shirin Mellatgohar – Nogol Mazloumi – Hooman Mehdizadeh Jafari.
Opening on 25th December at Aaran Projects.

Works assembled in this exhibition are product of poetic subjectivity of their creators; works that travel through time and space and are unrestrained by the realities of the world. Defying gravity (both as a natural force and in complexity of situation), in form and concept, these group of works suggest motion and fluidity and by blending what is stable and what is mobile, gracefully portray the uncertainties of our era and world in general.

The lyrical force of Iranian art and its gentle allegorical curves are part of the concept of this exhibition. The interaction of shifting elements, resembles the balancing act inherent in Persian poetry; the lows and highs, the melody and pace, the harsh and the soft. Forms move through time and space and return to the real world as artistic actualities, ultimately reaching a stability in which all forces are equal.

A number of artists present in this exhibition are known for their exalted style and progressive attitude, next to them we are show casing works by younger artists who are unconventional and unrestrained in their practice. The constellation of these set of works is an attempt to reveal part of what is true and persistent in Iranian art today; a boundless potential for ecstasy and agony, a consistent struggle to deny darkness and to progress despite obstacles, in other words a balancing act.

Presenting works by Malakeh Nayiny and:
Alireza Adambakan – Ala Ebtekar – Mohammad Eskandari – Asghar Aharipour – Mehrdad Jafari – Azam Hosseinabadi – Hamid Hemayatian – Nasim Davari – Maryam Sepiyani – Nastaran Safaei – Emitis Abbassioun – Shirin Fathi – Hadis Fakhr – Reihane Taravati – Farshid Larimian – Dehghan Mohammadi – Allahyar Najafi.

Opening at Aaran Projects on 20th November 2015.

In Arts, liberated from constraints of reason and logic, artists conceive and combine new forms that enrich our lives, in mythology too, we entertain a hypothesis, to perhaps find answers and solutions to our world which essentially is a puzzle. What if this world were not all that there is?

Humans beings are unique in retaining the capacity for play and amusement. More often than not we forget this gift. The power of imagination which forms our mental image of something that is not perceived through the five senses, should not be underestimated. It is essential to recognize the importance of this force that breaks down borders and teleports us beyond our circumstances, and abilities. A world of wondrous charm and endless stories, unrestrained fancy and extremes that challenge belief.

The artists working in the realm of fantasy, violate in a variety of ways, standard expectations by drastic experiments with subject matter, form and style. Constant fusion of every day with the fantastic, mythical and nightmarish. These trail blazers render a world that blurs traditional distinctions between what is serious, trivial, horrible, absurd or tragic.

Once upon a time, Lamassus and Griffins guarded the Capital city of Persian empire, they still do. An echo of a time where kings were transported to the sky by giant birds, and snakes growing from man’s shoulders feasted on human brain, and the white Div was defeated by the super hero and Simorgh was busy saving the albino child. A recurring magical abstractness that permits representation to take a timeless character; recalling the past, expressing hope for future and affirming continuity.

In collaboration with Iranian Association of Sculptors

The very large or “colossal” statues have had an enduring appeal since ancient times, and so does small sculptures, which as personal possessions or small figurines of deities have been found all over the world.
Artists have been commissioned to create large splendid sculptures to mark events and mainly to “exhibit” power and wealth. On the contrary , generally, small sculptures have been for personal use, entwined with personal attachments, and mostly are result of impulses and desires of their creators. Throughout history refined and delicate small statues have invoked positive reaction from the viewers, who find them more appealing and intimate than the glorification that is inherent in grand sculptures. Despite their sizes the small sculptures are often more admired than large scale pieces, because of the fact that the craftsmanship in a small scale is harder to achieve, there is hardly room for error and therefore patience of the creator is always admired.
For the 9th Exhibition of Small Sculpture, 45 artists will be exhibiting their works. Works that cover a wide and appealing array of subjects and materials. What is common in these sculptures is the personal and informal approach, a sample although Small, of the personal language that each artist has applied to reveal their emotions and reflections.
In this selection, ordinary and extraordinary events are touched upon; burning of stray cats along with their guardian in a freak accident (Burnt Cat, by Elnaz Ghaemi), pleasant time spent in Manuchehri House in Kashan (by Sam Nikmaram) to yesteryears and popular women’s magazine (by Nastaran Safaei), to fragility of life (by Massih Moshtaghi)…
This exhibition is a sample of different approaches and practices of Iranian contemporary artists who are persisting on their individuality as any other contemporary human being and showcasing what is spun from the heart and woven from the soul.

Opening at Aaran Projects on 18th September.

I am a taphographer, I make grave markers, for the past fifteen years I take pictures of graves and burials and I make frottages on epitaphs of those eliminated only to distribute them. I have also made cenotaphs. Memorials too, for the dead and the living. All these frame Curriculum Mortis. It is true to say that Curriculum Mortis is not a series. I cannot make series. Certainly one can categorise these works as broken gravestones, mourners, survivors, the anonymous, the killed, perpetual and ephemeral grave markers, the living and the dead and even a set of graves and memorials that like Flemish vanitas paintings have snails crawling on them. But in this volume there are works that are included in the exhibition and there are also works that are not. They are not included, because, they are not here, they are in cemeteries or are cenotaphs or memorials now residing in museums or in someone’s house, or I am forbidden to show them or they should not be here. On the other side, in the exhibition there are things that are not included in this publication. And there are things that are neither in this publication nor in that exhibition. This is what curriculum stands for. A curriculum is an account, it is a course. Each of these show one moment of this path. For all this, all I publish or show should bear this name. And so far there are one other exhibition and two publications by this name. I assume this would be the case forever.
Barbad Golshiri

Opening at Aaran Projects on 18th September.

Group installation exhibition and performances curated by Amir Ali Ghassemi

Artists: Atoosa Pourhosseini, Navid Salajegheh and Bahar Samadi

Semi-Dark Room is a group installation exhibition & performances taking place at Aaran projects in the last days September. The exhibition includes the installation experiences in the field of «Expanded Cinema», «Performance Art» and «Moving images installations» by the artists.
In «Semi-Dark Room» a limited source of light partially lightens the room. Light passes through series of intervening filters that sometimes depict images and at other times contain memories. In the meantime the devised machinery are important passages that regardless of their obvious logic, operate and implement changes and alterations that are for and against perception.

Semi Dark Room is part of a project titled “The Luminous Void”, other programs of this project will be on view at Lajevardi Collection and Darbast Platform. For More info and data please visit website of “New Media Society”: www.newmediasoc.com

Bahar Samadi (b.1981, Tehran)is a Tehran Paris experimental film maker.
She studied architecture in Azad University of Art and Architecture in Tehran, Iran (2006) and graduated in Filmmaking from EICAR university of Paris, France (2012).

Navid Salajegheh (b. 1981, Tehran) is a Paris based architect, urban designer and visual artist. He received his MA in Architecture from Azad Art and Architecture university of Tehran and graduated in “Architecture: city and urban project” from L’ecole nationale d’Architecture de Marseille, Marseille/France. Together with Bahar Samadi they have started Studio 51.

Atoosa Pour Hosseini (b. Tehran 1981) is an artist based in Dublin/ Ireland. She holds a
MA in Fine Art Media from National College of Art and Design, Dublin (2014), as well as BA
in Fine Art Painting at Azad University of Art and Architecture, Tehran (2007).

Opening on 21st August 2015 at Aaran Projects.

A selection by Behrang Samadzadegan and Aaran Gallery

Artists present in this exhibition:
Marcos Grigorian – Kamran Diba – Mohammad Hossein Emad – Mostafa Darebaghi – Korosh Ghazimorad – Mahmoud Mahroumi – Sahand Hesamiyan – Barbad Golshiri – Mona Aghababee – Reza Sedighian – Masoumeh Mohtadi – Samaneh Motallebi – Reza Eshlaghi – Aliyar Rasti – Shabnam Lohrasbi.

Historically in practice of Iranian artists -excluding possible exceptions- the lyrical, thematic, narrative or message orientated, have been the essence of creativity. All kinds of themes; phenomenal, political, social, literal, emotional, narration, and transcendent experiences, have always been at the core of artistic practice. Once the Iranian artist approaches a minimum state, such as a white or black rectangular, the process of creation leads to a rectangular of “nothingness”, or saturation of “blackness”. When they apply the repetitive geometrical shapes, the fractal is expanded in an aesthetic discipline. If they reach the black rectangular, it’s not a sign of Minimalism, but it’s in accord with the Duchampian effect of “Art is no more retinal”; Very often this same artists reach the state of “non written”, or saturation that is an indicator of incapability of language of art to carry the load of the mind.
Rhythm in many aspects of “outwardly minimal looking works of art” has a narrative scope. Because it is joined with motives that are neither necessarily minimal nor are meaningless shapes. Many of our artists are “narrators of elimination”. There are concrete cubes that hide historical tragedy. And drawings that are self exploring, methodical and minimal but playful. Or in practice of Marcos Grigorian, who after Auschwitz arrives at nonexistence and void. Or in paintings of Kamran Diba where after the elimination of news -the cover up of knowledge-, the text converts to rhythmic bulks of color. Or in works of Emad the act of elimination in conjunction with the lyrical mentality of artist, results in “deduced” forms. It’s no more possible to observe and judge the work of art without referring to the context and author’s wishes and concept. It is essential to expand the perceptions and avoid labeling of works of art. And here is the subtle point of differentiating between two concepts of “Minimal and “Minimum”. All the works presented in this exhibition are related, in the sense that with “Less” they say “More”…
Excerpts from catalogue by Behrang Samadzadegan