The Monochrome boxes of Mohsen Sadeghani are miniatures of place and space, in which symbols and objects are visible, like a mesh of similes that from a discursive view that is expressive and resonant. The audience in viewing the boxes sees the reflective focal point of the lights as well as one’s own image. From one perspective, this design makes the discernment of the works’ components difficult and delayed, and from another, it is reminiscent of the theory of the French psychologist, Jacque Lacant, regarding a child’s initial identification of one’s own image in a mirror. Immersion of the state of the viewer in the works, due to the reflections, is an expression of sense of non-distance between the viewer and the events. The identification of fragile, wounded and deformed. It’s in the works, takes shape with the help of surfaces, images and painted and opaque glasses. Such a process forms a suspended situation, inviting the audience to struggle more for the understanding of the themes and discourses. General structures of Sadeghian’s boxes have been designed and made in such a way that they invite the viewers to a subjective experience, one that is indicative of a connection to old customs and rituals.
Nosratollah Moslemian
Past Exhibitions
Ali Chitsaz is a funny man. Our first reaction to his work is to laugh, which is all right. Sometimes he is satisfied with a cheap smile but often manages to escape from falling into the realm of caricature. His previous works depicted battlefields and hunting grounds; full of amputated hands and heads and galloping riders. We got there late and never understood why the heck the crowd were at each others’ throats. Or what the hell the story was about – As if we had found a few pages torn from a comic book. In his battle scenes often some peculiar person has paused for a moment and is gazing at us like a goat; As if we are caught witnessing a massacre we were never meant to see. In his recent work, the weather has improved; spears have turned into carrots and daggers into turnips. Recently the master is a little more tender-hearted. On his canvases he is showing us a few dreams and memories or an excerpt from a book or a newspaper. This time instead of The battle of Mamasani, we end up on the side of swimming pools, football-fields, roses and robins. A street goes through the football field and the goal is a swimming pool. He draws a cigarette on the canvas. Or packs of cigarettes, in the size of buildings. A friend is arrested through the lens of a webcam and instead of giving the rifle to the “Statue of Stupidity”, he gives a bowl of stew to the lady with a blue scarf. He puts the half Qajar half Ottoman sultan bare feet on a motorbike, he hands him a Picasso for the steering, then he tells him to do a wheelie. In his new work Chitsaz has announced a ceasefire. Before he wages a new war and burns the bull alive, we better have a dip in the water and plant some vegetables in our garden.
Shervin Shahamipour
Three-dimensional space is a geometric model of the physical universe in which we live. The understanding of three-dimensional space is learned unconsciously during infancy and is closely related to hand- eye coordination. The visual ability to recognize the world in three dimensions is a visual perception where we gather and interpret information and our surrounding, always using the visible light that reaches our eyes. In other words our perception is our vision. To the three dimensional space we also subconsciously bring in a fourth dimension; emotions, fragrances , sounds. Therefore when we process a vision it’s no more 3 dimensional, what we see includes the 4th dimension. Humans have always brought in a piece of nature to their living quarters, in forms of gardens or just simple vases of flower. When I chose a seed of a plant, that I don’t even know it’s name, as a sculptor I am attracted to it as a bulk, a 3 dimensional form that I find wonderful and perfect. My subconscious constitutes the 4th dimension: the memories of a magical day spent in a forest, the fragrances that I am reminded of, the play of light and shadow and how grand the universe is.
Curated by Vahid Sharifian
A landscape is a place where artists can observe themselves from the outside; a place where they can illustrate their own selves by depicting what they discover externally; it is staring at a scenery , putting a face to an equilibrium or describing a search; it is formation of a puzzle; calming one’s self with a puzzle; finding one’s self in a puzzle; Through a poetic description; while staring at a vista, we forget about ourselves; we escape ourselves because we see all of our existence in another space for a while; our stresses and our serenity; this is different from sinking into deep thoughts; thinking is same as pondering; thoughts are generated within it; staring at a landscape the string of thoughts and the mind struggles that make up your inner self occupy you;this is the real you.
Artists: Ali Chitsaz, Mehdi Farhadian, Omid Hallaj, Mohamad Khalili, Milad Mokhtari, Ghasem Mohammadi, Maryam Naderi, Reza Panahi, Yasaman Safa, Hamid Yaraghchi, Shantia Zaker Ameli, and Amir Hossein Zanjani
Artists: Laleh Ardestani, Niloufar Abedi, Sara Abbassian, and Samira Nowparast
For the four artists whose works have been show cased in this collection, the concept of “Private Spaces” provides a medium to return to one’s roots. This reference that is full of metaphors, in dissecting an invisible cocoon, and transcending from external layers into the most internal elements while resembling the passage from a public and forbidden area to an internal and allowed spectrum, has become part of the theme. Niloufar Abedi, in a mixture of confrontation and contradiction sits her figurines on a canvas of shadows and blue and green colors inspired by nature, resembling a heavenly safe place. At times a fear of constant threats, sometime in folic form and sometimes in a caravan of geometric figures with metallic colors bases is constantly occupying the atmosphere of the canvas. Although geometric volumes, with angles and evident perimeter lines, are a reminder of a place to live and rest but with the constant gravitation towards taking refuge in their shadows, one continually feels terrified of fractures and destruction of figures from within. Samira Nowparast illustrates this familiar fear and agitation with her jagged creatures that appear on the surface of the canvas in an atmosphere wrapped in a white haze. And sometimes by extending the jaggedness of the creatures along the length of the art work, she stresses confrontation and face off between internal private spaces and the external ones with fragile and transparent borders. Round, continuous, fluid and dark volumes stick out of the geometric frameworks of the work so that compositions can transcend over borders and limitations and either be consumed by the onslaught of jaggedness or to devour and dissolve them inside themselves. Laleh Ardestani, following a period of expressive show casing of humanly bodies full of emotion, has now taken up a more abstract view. Although one can still see faded shadows of human body mixed in an entangled mass of centric compositions, but in the implementations of her ideal private spaces, this time she chooses a more vague language. A hidden volume of flesh, veins and fat, behind an anatomical curtain, and on the sidelines of re-exposure, is just like cutting through the cocoon of individual isolationism which of course invites the viewer to touch and join humans without pleading with them. Sara Abbasian. If threats and fear in the works of these three artists has an abstract side to it, and the language used is not so direct, in contrast Sara Abbasian’s dynamism produces a clear and truly agitating manifestation. She uses her previously displayed designs as the base so that in a brief animation she can make some sharks move which undoubtedly causes an eternal terror and fear for every viewer. Here, the threat is bare naked and fear, even with the voices that accompany the pictures, infiltrate into the souls of the artist and the viewers.
Hamid Reza Karami
Black and White images are becoming rare. They are mostly printed in newspapers and books, usually chosen for economic reasons or used as mere visual effect. All around the world most of the events of the 1960s and 1970s, both political and personal quests, were associated with black and white photography. Back in 1970s ,in true Iranian fashion, Journalistic neutrality with shrewdly observed cultural insights and reporting , was combined with lyrical and poetical story telling.During the Revolution and in the eight years of war, breathtaking events encouraged Iranian photographers to continue on the same path. For many of us those images of the Iraq-Iran war shot by Kaveh Golestan or Bahman Jalali continue to linger on and haunt the memory. The border line between documentary photography and its ethics of pure photography, and a series or one image out of a series becoming a piece of art photography, is extremely delicate and only a handful can work within the genre’s restrictions to achieve it. In his selection, Arash Hanaei salutes the works of photographers who have worked tirelessly and often without least expectation of fame and fortune. In the meantime his sharp eye has picked up images that go far beyond mere documentation, entirely through ingenious and unique works of these photographers;by including two very young photographers in the exhibition, the curator is hinting at the continuity of a well-traveled path in Iran’s contemporary documentary photography.
Two California artists have taken their art straight to the center of the discussion when they exhibit together this month in Tehran, Iran, where political tensions daily escalate between the United States and Iran, and misperceptions between Western and Muslim peoples may be at an all time high. Both artists are known for their social commentary and interest in social justice issues. Clayton Campbell is the Artistic Director of 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, CA, and the former President of Res Artis. Amitis Motevalli was an 18th Street Artist Fellow in 2008, and will be exhibiting at 18th Street in January, 2011. Clayton Campbell will exhibit two photographic installations, including his seminal work, “Words My Son has Learned Since 9-11”. Begun in 2004 and continually being added to, Campbell’s cross cultural project researches how people view themselves in a post 9-11 reality through learned language. His second work, a series of large digital images entitled “After Abu Ghraib”, examines our collective issues of human rights, abuse by torture, and personal responsibility by re-contextualizing the notorious photos of US soldiers torturing Iraqi civilians at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq.” Amitis Motevalli, New series titled “Here/There, Then/Now”, are 7 hand embroidered large cloth flags. These flags are inspired by the traditional flags used in Shia rituals dating back to the Islamic battle of Karbala. In ritualistic use, the flags have excerpts from the Holy Quran and images from struggle of Karbala. The aesthetic of these flags are also used in grass roots advertisements. Motevalli’s second work, “Fascia”, is made of white and mirror sequined spandex bikini bottoms stretched across the roof of a small gallery to create a dome shape. The stretched out spandex alters the architecture of the room and creates a sense of physical presences without actual the presence of any figures. The third pieces on show are from series “In Re Aiming The Canon” where artist Focuses on reversing powers that “Create” history and the reclaiming of the future. In seven paintings images are taken from News media which was largely omitted from headlines to maintain a dominant political climate. The paintings create a scenario of militant resistance. The locations are unknown, the specific struggle unclear.
I am a Greek artist and a foreigner to Iran. Not truly European since Greece is surely something of its own but not eastern either. I stayed in Iran for several months and in 2008 organized an exhibition in Athens with 19 artists that live and work in Tehran called Lion under the rainbow. That’s how I came to know of Reza Bangiz unique paintings. Actually not exactly paintings since he has developed though the years his own technique a mixture of linocut and painting. Mr. Bangiz is one of the rarest and striking examples of resistance and political consciousness that goes beyond easy accusations that please the western mind, but is subtle and requires great sacrifices. What I see in his work is a defiance of color and luscious extravagant themes, the negation of decorative bright patterns that one sees almost in all popular painting from Tehran. Maybe only Mr. Bangiz was brave enough to sacrifice his popularity, that comes with bright colors in Tehran it seems, to sacrifice his early commercial success in order to be true to his beliefs. When in Tehran I saw many younger artists who are angry and supposedly revolt, but at the same time many of these angry artists are primarily anxious for recognition from the heads of the western art world, and they advertise the destruction and pain of their own country in order to become popular. They can almost measure how much money, fame and acceptance from the west each complain and each new “political” work will offer them. In Mr. Bangiz works on the other hand one sees a true revolution and a true passion for truth. It’s a passion that negates itself, that reveals itself hidden, that appears at times as devoid of wisdom, as children’s sketches. Following what I understand to be a Sufi tradition Mr. Bangiz’s simple and pure forms reveal sensitivity deeply rooted in morality only that this wisdom that his works communicate may also appear to be empty of all meaning. One sometimes wonders if one is looking at a masterpiece or a children’s sketch. The works appear full of all that is true and empty of all meaning at the same time. The balance of the composition and the refined manner of the lines, the subtle painted part of the linocuts with the precise and telling titles offer one of the finest examples of Iranian painting, setting Mr. Bangiz in the place of a true master and a brave fighter for truth and beauty.
Alexandros Georgiou
Alexandros Georgiou, is a Greek artist and curator of the exhibition “Lion Under The Sun” exhibited during Art-Athina in Athens in 2008.
In his latest collection, Hanaei stands up to the art scene and refuses to follow its conventional mandates. He brings his “for-keeps” and his “not-for-keeps” to the gallery as building blocks of a “lived experience”. He hides that which he rejects underneath a layer of white paint. His collection raises eyebrows, “What are these?” the audience will ask. He photographs what he sees the way they appear to him but without the slightest intention to de-light and en-light. He doesn’t concern himself with the criteria of professional photography — composition, lighting, etc. He only insists on one thing: for everything to be the way it appears to him, neither beautiful nor ugly. In this exhibit, the artist does away with “the artistic undertaking” as if it was an obstacle standing between him and his audience. He invites the viewer to behold life in its doldrums. With this collection, he enters a domain that the artist has been barred from.
Behrang Samadzadegan
This exhibition is the latest works of Peyman Hooshmandzadeh, a set of projects; “Time”, “Bank Notes”, “Trampled” and “Knives” , all have a common trait of documentary but in a new mould. The elements that are common in this series are objects that are either on our person during the day or close by; bank notes in our pockets, clocks that decorate the offices, bits and pieces that are crumpled every day and knives that are to be found on certain people. The earlier projects of the artist; “Tea House Regulars”, “Shooka Café”, “The Lads in Customs” and “Zourkhaneh” were documentaries with inclination to cast certain types. The presence of Humans particularly the men in a Patriarchal Society that we live in, is extremely visible. But the present exhibition emphasizes on objects; objects that are thought provoking and at the same time trivial, we are called on to open our eyes and ears and to concentrate on details. What becomes quite fascinating is that the previous series, the “Paradoxical Life” is now the connecting link; humans that were put behind window shields of cars with decorations that reflect our society as a cabinet of curiosities. The common thread that can be found in the artists’ body of work, is the common man’s Culture (The Folklore). A culture that by it’s nature is mixed with Kitsch art (The collection of Time) and also describes the mundane everyday (The Bank Notes). What happens in back alleyways of Tehran, from Café Shooka to the Customs House, the contents of our pockets, prints on shirts, the belts, the mustaches, all make up and form sub cultures that are full of contradictions but utterly Iranian.
Arash Fayez
Paintings of Mehran Saber appear to be reactions to a world apparently without meaning, humans control, or even menaced by an invisible outside force. Characters caught in hopeless situations are forced to do repetitive and meaningless actions. In his works, reality is dismissed and even Surrealism is distorted. The dream-like qualities of the paintings makes you wonder if the painter has worked while in trance, whether he has sleep-walked through creation. Hybrid creatures, often twisted and tortured, remind us of the old wounds, and of the bits and pieces of nightmares. The fabulous color palette is wild and exuberant, shocking the viewers at first glance and then challenging them into submission to observe the beauty and harmony of colors, while proving to them that the paintings are truly marvelous as well as wonderfully beautiful.
The joyful and unconventional works of both artists easily shift between two and three dimensions. Toys change shape and function when they are used as tools of expression. The wonderful and creative use of paper by both of them is a defiance of formal clichés, creating witty, fantastic and unique pieces. Tranquility and turmoil are the other side of the coin. Perceptive subjects such as political issues, life in general, memories of the childhood from 1980s, propaganda, technology are dispersedly challenged, and sometimes visually narrated in new and daring ways. The duo show of the two young artists is a fresh breeze of air and a reminder that Art is fun and above all Humane!
For centuries the illustrious and mythological stories of the legendary Persian Hero “Rostam” have passed down through generations of Iranians. The poetry of Shah Nameh (also known as the book of kings) written approximately a thousand years ago, by Abul Qasim Ferdowsi (celebrated and hailed as the Homer of Iran) is recited by millions of Iranians. In this century the echoes of this oral tradition are transferred into numerous works of art by the Iranian contemporary artists. In his most political work to date, Fereydon Ave, uses the images of a wrestler wondering among creatures of darkness in the dead of winter. The series is about dying and resurrection and the Chivalry that is dying in the land of Rostam. But the long history of the land has taught us; That the winter will not last long, and the support, aspirations and cheers of millions of Iranians will eventually drive our “Hero” back into the limelight and yet into another bright spring.
Playing with the forms that exist in nature without the slightest change in them, repeating the firm elements next to the variable ones and finding different points of concentration. To delete and to reach the simplest lines and surfaces in nature, this is my outlook and how I register what I find beautiful. I search for beauty in the mixture of the impressions and plays of shadow and light on the walls.
Amir Mousavi
Today, after many quiet years, Mohsen Sadeghian appears again. Life’s adversities and the plays of the years have not thrown him off his course, and he is still focusing on the “Wooden Spaces” to portray his present. Now we encounter the back of the glass. The space is still the wooden environment resembling a large box. However, entering the boxes is not direct anymore. A glass obstructs your direct entrance. What is more observable is the explicit internal architecture of the boxes. In his older works, he easily and directly granted access to his sanctuary’s close proximity, however it is not that way anymore. The topography of his pictorial codes is only possible with the aid of the earlier works’ tangible evidence. The presence of numerous layers today makes our passage difficult, and his perpetual concealments prevent us from determinate understanding of the forms and events. It seems to me that in encountering his recent works, I have two interpretations: First, the contents and internal components have found an organic connection with the external frameworks, and he is portraying a unity. Second, the frames have not exited their situational environment and are still protecting the meanings. In both interpretations, his arrangements as well as his compositions of materials and elements are admirable. The preservation of time, particularly the preservation of grand dusty time, is an indirect impressive reference becoming meaningful for me today. The regulated internal divisions portray his explicit judgments about static stories. Preservation of beliefs, perseverance of internal lines of passage over the years from one angle, and experimentation with the non-traditional ways of imagining from another, have created a genuine personal language in a corner of Iranian Contemporary Arts.
The nightmarish images of Ali Reza Jodai, perhaps act as a magnifier of the events of the past few months in Iran. “Shock & Awe” can overwhelm the viewer. The preoccupation of the artist with society and events is vivid and the rich lines are evidence of a keen awareness of the historical tradition of Persian Painting. The refined paintings of Ali Reza Jodai are perhaps a Hall of Mirror, A peep show, A circus, the limbo dance of characters in the theater of life.
What we can perhaps call the “Modernist” movement in Calligraphy started some 40 years ago as part of the aesthetic evolution in Iran. The Technical skills perfected during centuries of practice by great calligraphers, were combined with modernist expressive notions to create surprisingly harmonious results. Since then the Iranian calligraphers have pushed the traditional limitations of paper and material (ink & tools) and have successfully produced art works using materials as diverse as Tar, Gold leaves, Bleach, and so on. The fluid and Spontaneous shapes created by Kourosh Ghazimorad are yet another wonderful example of this marriage of old and new. The wonderful dance of letters that are minimized to forms, the abstract calligraphy if you like. His work experience as a graphic artist allows for more freedom and movement and vivid colors. At the same time the strength of lines betray years of training as a traditional calligraphist.
The images used in Media and advertisements are often edited to obscure reality and to cover up the surroundings and circumstances. As if the world around us is fitted in to a frame, where by we are supposed to believe that this is all that there is and “Everything is Just Fine”. By putting these images next to each other and using the mind frame of the producers, I have attempted to refer the viewer to observe “All” of the reality. Allowing the observer to judge and form their own interpretation away from the pre-conceived notions. The direct and indirect presence of women in these series is an example of how we can look at the reality. Women who have refused to sit in the back rooms and have pushed the boundaries of the society have appeared in all sorts of places and taken up tasks that have traditionally been the domain of the male population. They have insisted on truth and by persistence have changed the way media had ignored them and now in fact have turned the media focus on their activities. In a way I attempt to remedy the situation by demonstrating that the images we are fed are not reflections of reality, but are manipulations that finally fail to convince the viewer. In other words I have applied the same technique or recipe to question these practices and to draw attention to hidden codes and dialogues that are the underlying reason for this wide mis-representations of truth. I have tried to find a way out of these “virtual borders” and to insist on “All” of the reality.
Behrang Samadzadegan
Shahanshah was the title of Iranian kings, meaning the King of Kings. Cuneiform Script is one of the earliest known forms of written expression, emerging in Mesopotamia around the 30th century BC. Cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs , an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Behdad Lahoti insists that the works are neither determinative nor symbolic. His work is not representational or instructive. They are simply echoes of the past in to present time. All the same it’s ironical that after 5 millennium Behdad Lahoti uses a physical object to carve his own “ideograms” on. Read them as you like!
In 2004 China celebrated the production of the first porcelain piece about a 1000 years ago. In same year The European Ceramic Work Center (ekwc) started a series of Annual projects that focused on ceramic, and collaborated with other countries such as China, Senegal, Morocco and Brazil. Then came the turn for Iran, with it’s long standing tradition of ceramic and architecture. A group of Iranian Artists where chosen by Hella Berent, herself a visual artist and a participants of previous projects at ekwc, to participate in a 3 months residency program in Netherlands. The wonderful pieces that were created during this program are now in display at Aaran Gallery.
The word “Appropriation” in photography refers to acquiring and taking exclusive possession, and then through the artistic intervention, adapting the concept, structure, form and content of an art work to one’s own. Through this type of adaptation, the delicate distance between imitation and inspiration can be discerned. In fact, “Appropriation Photography” is the re-birth of an art-work. What is ultimately created is inevitably an art that (directly or allegorically) refers one to another art; be it literature, painting, self-portrait, or others. The present collection belongs to some young photographers who consciously, and without anguish, have borrowed and extracted from the works of others. Ultimately what seems attractive, is the attention of the new generation of Iranian photographers to a recent and contemporary subject of “Appropriation Photography” and that how in the footsteps of the great artists, if they have not portrayed more attractive works, they are nonetheless no less than the originals.
Arash Fayez
Thus spoke the sheep: “Oh, the King of fairies, we wish that you see us when we are captives in the hands of these beings. The lambs and the children are separated from mothers, and their mothers’ milk is wrested for human beings’ own children. Our children are tied up, are slaughtered, and skinned. They scream, in hunger and in thirst, and no-one comes to their rescue. And then, their heads are chopped, their stomachs cut, and they are skinned. Their heads and organs, their hearts, livers and rumen are subjected to the butchers’ chopping knives. And finally, they are cooked in pots, or barbecued on fire, and then eaten. And we are still silent. Neither we cry nor do we complain. Even if we cry, these beings do not show mercy. Where is the supposed kindness and compassion of these beings?”
Ikhwan al-Safa – 961-986 AD Part of “Plea Signature Scroll by the animals against the cruelty of human beings to the “King of Fairies”
Arash Hanaei, was born in Tehran in 1978. He prefers to concentrate on documentary photography. His present series continues to simply “Document”, this time A “Capital”. He shows us our own city, albeit noise and pollution and congestion. Colors are eliminated. Except the pale green – grayish color that is associated with many of Islam Republic’s institutions and the red of Iranian Flag at Martyrs Tombs of Tehran. At first glance his work appears to be snap shots of Tehran, but at closer Look his sarcasm becomes apparent. Images of Shopping Malls & Bill Boards advertising Western commodities in opposition to the Revolutionary Murals of Tehran. The sense of isolation is deep. And one wonders whether he has tried to create his own city away from hustle and bustle of every day life? A “Capital” that we all like to love and hate at the same time.
A Retrospect Animals, dots, cubes, are all set in a unique abstract world. The two dimensional forms drag our eyes and at any moment you expect to come across the three dimensional form. The steady rhythm and easiness of the paintings and the tranquility, are easily detected in each piece. At the same time the dynamism is an integral part of his paintings. He has pursued and succeeded in creating his own imagery without insisting on traditional motifs. A master in command of his own world, a complicated world that is made easy for the viewer to appreciate and feel. Colors are refined and despite their brightness are extremely gentle. The world of Darehbaghi is humane and kind. Perhaps if we listen we might hear the humming of birds and cock-a-doodle-doo.
The exhibition “Far From Where We Came” brings together the energy and the skills of eleven artists of different generations, all based in Italy. Each artist develops an aspect of the subject through his original linguistic syntax and different media, including video, painting, sculpture, installation, ready-mades and performance. “Far From Where We Came” talks of a contemporary reciprocal gaze in which past and future join in an irreducible relationship. The following paradox has its roots in ancient traditions as well as the contemporary art scene. Ancient poetry, Greek tragedy, and Roman tradition gave us, to mention some examples, the figures of Orpheum, Gilgamesh and Janus, characters relating in certain aspects to artistic practice. The question we are able to answer today (no matter how far we have gone in terms of science and technology) is strategically connected with answering “where we have come from”. Gods and Demigods Double-headed Janus presided over all material and immaterial beginnings: from thresholds and arches to the beginning of the historical and mythical time and of every new enterprise, war or peace. Janus represented all forms of passage and change. Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third human, sets out in a quest for immortality and, when heartbroken by the death of his friend Enkidu, continues his quest with nobility and courage in the territory of Utnapistim, called “the Far”. Orpheum, son of Apollo, endowed with intuitive knowledge of degeneration and regeneration cycle of the natural world, was placated, affected and persuaded with his chant, Charon, Cerberus and Kore, because of his love for Eurydice. Yet when he reached the end of Hades, doubting she was there, turned his back and saw her disappearing and lost her forever. We read in Gilgamesh, “Before you leave the desert lands Gilgamesh will know your arrival in his dreams.” Gilgamesh learnt about his odyssey and destiny through his dreams and wondered what that clear and distorted reality meant. Gilgamesh, like Orpheum and Janus, represents the prototype of an artist exploring the territories of the unconscious, a hero in search of an unattainable goal, the form, the horizon, something always more difficult to realize, an impossible journey to outer limits of the world. Going far, the supreme will of distancing oneself “from where we came” is the ethical principle of a hero stealing the fire from gods: it is the principle of individuality. Comprehending “where we came” pertains to a metaphysical dimension, a fixed and unchangeable ineffable reality one can only cognize but never live totally: you can only perceive the distance, the duration. The paradox is this: when we go “far” we distance ourselves “from where we came” and so the direction, the sense or distance is established by the second term. Getting far can lead to a blind alley, a labyrinth becoming more and more complicated. The aesthetic experience develops against the skills of going far and returning back again. Some decisive shifts can gather the sense of progressive change of time in space, as in thought and in imagination. “Far From Where We Came” is a paradox because the more we go “further” the more we understand that in fact we are approaching, in a way never equal to the former. The same case applies to aesthetic experience: we practice the cyclic and ritual contemplation of both aspects. Founding its proper cognitive analysis on experience and not an objectivity, aesthetics—as matter of interpretation of Beauty—actually supplies us with just one aspect, a splinter and not a totality. The aesthetic gaze looks into the distance, somewhere between the “far” and ‘from where we came’ to see its form. In creation, as in art, the void does not exist. The void itself is a form. The not-being is non-existent. The void, as total absence of form, does not exist. Aesthetic experience leads not to the void; the aesthetic experience is not empty. It is a ritual, a sort of contemplation, a cyclic return. The experience of going far and the experience of Beauty are transformed and introduced into our real conditions. Gilgamesh wanted to become god-like, but he was a man. Orpheum was obliged not to turn back. Janus received from Saturn the gift of being able to see both future and the past. The greatest form of going far is the dream; the perfect form is to forget; but if I forget, I fall in a different and bigger paradox. If I forget, thinking will no longer make any sense; it will not make any sense if I have really gone far. What would have happened if Gilgamesh had forgotten everything while going far? What chant is Orpheum playing? What are the faces of Janus seeing? In Vettor Pisani’s drawings—obsessively representing a human profile and an island— the form evolving on the horizon is the image of the infinite. “Miaosfinge”, a pyramid of three cans, plays upon quotations and the language similar to the ‘Rabbit and the Philosopher’s Stone’. Flavio De Marco’s “Landscapes” represent a fractal horizon, a unit in the structure of the gaze, able to reproduce all equal landscapes. Mario Sasso’s triptych turns over the gaze to the top to find a new space for imagination, disappearing and emerging again in the contamination of the urban space. Piero Mottola’s “Articolazioni cromatico-emozionali vicino-lontano” is produced by a neutral and minimal impulse looking for maximum stimulation of perceptive events in a visual structure. Matteo Peretti’s “Portraits” (“George”, “Barack”) and ‘Shopping’, an assemblage of plastic shoppers, evoke a second look, creating new skins on known surfaces. Daniele Jost’s ‘Babels’ evoke a shift in a different context, different from the original, close as well as remote, mythical and technologic. Carlo Gabriele Tribbioli’s “Paeasaggi Scheletrici” marks mental maps in the margin of objects re-emerging as abstract signs. Mastequoia’s “Strade antiche certe and idem p.” presents the documentation of an activity reconstructed by group during the exploration of an itinerary of an ancient Roman connecting road, bringing back drawings, documents, notes, photos, archeological and industrial finds. Navid Azimi’s installation of a “Five-Pointed Star” is a metaphor of intertwining of order and disorder, life and death. The two works on paper in the series “Rokh” and ‘Cypress with Skull and Apples’ manifest the most principal aspects of his figurative world. In Giulio Squillacciotti’s “farfromwherewecame” (digital film 8”) (which gave its title to the exhibition) a narration is built upon imaginary facts starting from those photos and cards which complete, at the same time, the original work. On the contrary, in Carlo Spano’s “Frazioni Dinamiche” (digital film 58”), passages of real life, without a logical sequence or a will to narrate (only accelerated or slowed down), reproduce the simulation of a cinematographic kind of quality of image and duration.
Artists: Vettor Pisani, Carlo Gabriele Tribbioli, Giulio Squillacciotti, Matteo Peretti, Piero Mottola, Flavio De Marco, Daniele Jost, Navid Azimi Sadjadi, and Mario Sasso
Almost all contemporary Iranian art is about frustration and finding an Oblique language to scream in. Ala Dehghan is no exception. Her work comes on small scaled paper with the tools that a child uses to express itself: Cayons – pastels – pencils And gauche. What seems like an arbitrary scattering of semi figurative shapes trying to escape from emptiness. They are puppets on string or butterflies pinned, slithering on to paper. The feeling of helpless entrapment is overwhelming, delicate but final. No way out, not even in to emptiness.
Fereydon Ave