PS1’s exhibition program is generously supported by Artifacts, Velvet Coat, OPN Architects, Revival, Woodcraft, Hare Parlor, Nodo, and Hudson River Gallery. Thank you!
open hours:
Mon. 6/19 11a-1p
Tues. 6/20, 11a-1p & 6-8p
Wed 6/21, 11a-1p
Thurs. 6/22, 11a-1p & 6-8p
Fri 6/23, 11a-1p
Sat. 6/24, 11a-1p & 6-8p (reception)
Mon. 6/26, 11a-3p
Tues 6/27, 6-8p
or by appointment: john@publicspaceone.com
ARTIST STATEMENT
The exhibition consists of two parts: abstract paintings that were commissioned in 2018 and portraits ofwomen from 2014.
The common point of both paintings is the medium used: watercolors, lines added with pencils, crayons and brushes, and the smallness of the paintings.
It’s a big risk of writing about painting. But I took that risk and wrote a few words about my work to the audience. Hopefully it won’t interfere with the readers’ eyes.
abstracts
Perhaps the tradition of Iranian miniature painting has been effective in choosing these sizes. Big size is a tradition in contemporary abstract works, and I have also a lot of big size abstracts, but in this series, I did it on the contrary in small sizes. To see a small painting you have to get close to it. And this approach to the work is very interesting if the work has a special visual value. By approaching the effect, one can approach some of the most subtle visual elements such as line and texture as well as the mixing of colors. In this way, you can see how the painting is formed, something that we often lose in big size works. The same feature can be seen in portrait paintings. The smallness of the painting allows us to look at the most subtle effects and see details that in the fast-paced contemporary world, we usually don’t have time to contemplate. Colors act like codes to us, and recognizing them isn’t based on the size of the surface they cover. For example, we may only have seen a blue color on a very small surface, such as a butterfly’s wing, and we know that we will never forget it.
Sometimes works are made with a clear and simple sense, but that doesn’t always happen in some works, I have kept a line or form that first inspired me, and then I have refined it to get to the final form. And in some، I’ve kept it so much clearer that it has thus become part of the painting’s identity. So, watercolor media allows us to follow the process of creation. I love living colors and have used black as a color in abstract works to make the colors more vibrant and shiny.
Transparency is another visual feature that I have used in these works. The transparency in the classical painting tradition in the form of the Glaze technique has many values that have been forgotten after the modern era and with the alla prima technique of Impressionist. I think the transparency in the world of colors is a great sphere for working with colors.
portraits
We can look at women’s portraits now. These images are inspired by some visual features that are very valuable to me. In these paintings, I have sometimes followed a rhythm that has finally become a familiar face. Sometimes I can see my mother’s visage after finishing the painting, the face of someone I loved, or the face of someone whose deep look can be seen in his life history that resonates like a piece of continuous music. Of course, these similarities are sometimes very far away, and they go back far away in the depths of my mind. I do not know where and what it is that is not known. a place which I do not know where and what it is that is not known. This brings me back to that theme, again and again. A look, a gentle tilt of the head to one side, a texture that can show hairs or skin softness, a definite line or any other visual effect could have inspired an image.
Some important aspect about the eyes and the look in my works: I have never tried to manipulate, enlarge, or deform human eyes or their looks. I think the eyes are large enough to contain human history, and the eyes are deep enough to tell and express how one can see himself in that mirror. Renoir believes that a “portrait is a look” and I believe him.
Women have been a constant presence throughout my forty years of painting. My painting at the Tehran Biennale in 1994 was a portrait of a woman. The painting was on the list of paintings in the Museum of Contemporary Art, but it was not in the museum itself. It was as if the judges had been in trouble and had to hide it along with a few other portraits of women somewhere else and behind a panel in the farthest possible place.
I dedicate this exhibition to the brave women of Iran who fought for their rights over the past eight months, for the right to be seen and to be present as a human beings, in a full-fledged struggle to eradicate historical discrimination and the historical oppression that has been perpetrated on them, and all of us. To remove historical patriarchal control that has affected all aspects of their lives, a struggle that will undoubtedly lead to the human elevation of the whole society. A struggle whose ultimate victory will make the world a better and more beautiful place. Many of them took part in this fight wholeheartedly. Many of them lost their eyes. And despite all the pressure، they insist on their right to be seen. Women who were never a character or icons, but who surprised the world by insisting on a great will of being themselves. Women who deserve the most respect and appreciation.