The work is consistently breathtaking, provocative and engaging, as it addresses aspects of Iranian life with great respect to its history, politics, belief systems, and politics, without ever devolving into orientalism or the romantic absurdity of the mysteries of the other.
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“...we’re still looking for a destiny. Huh? Release your voice. Who sings with me? We need something good to happen. To happen, release your voice.”
— Bahram Nouraei (Iranian rapper, translated from the Persian)
“Contemporary Iranian Art & the Historical Imagination” is an ambitious and demanding exhibition, rich with the works of a dozen-and-a-half artists that will be of equal interest to those with a scholarly interest in art history as well as to casual viewers, who will be delighted to be exposed to cultural treasures and visual dialogue rarely seen in the local community.
Curators professor Pamela Karimi and Hamed Noori have borrowed from the collections of Azita Bina, Elmar Seibel, Ars Libri Ltd., Gallery Kayafas and the personal collections of a number of Iranian and Iranian-American artists.
It would be remiss to not take note of the remarkable work done by the students of Karami’s class, Art and Politics in the Middle East, who have dramatically altered the gallery space on a shoestring budget.
The students were involved in every aspect of the installation, from painting decorative elements on the wall that direct the eye, to the application of informative vinyl lettering, and selecting shelving and display cases. It is clearly a labor of love.
And the work is consistently breathtaking, provocative and engaging, as it addresses aspects of Iranian life with great respect to its history, politics, belief systems, and politics, without ever devolving into orientalism or the romantic absurdity of the mysteries of the other.
The show is divided into big subject categories that sometimes overlap including the historical (medieval manuscripts, antique objects, the Qajar Era) and the political (censorship, the women’s movement, foreign intervention in domestic affairs.)
A series of individually untitled oil paintings by Amirhossein Bayani, from his “Out of Context'' series, are inspired by traditional illustrations derived from Iranian manuscripts. The shaped paintings zoom in on elements from larger compositions, creating delightful curiosities divorced from their original narrative. There is a majestic warrior in golden armor and an ornate table stocked with vases and hookahs.
The paintings of the late Hassan Hazer Moshar are derived from tales of the Shahnameh (the Book Of Kings), the epic poem of 50,000 couplets written by Ferdowski between the years 977 and 1010. The Shahnameh is effectively the Persian equivalent of Mesopotamia’s Epic of Gilgamesh or Homer’s Iliad.
Moshar’s paintings are a wonderful treat, reminiscent of the work of Marc Chagall. They tease the mystical and are populated by men with cocked fists and elaborate mustaches, alongside women dancing and horses prancing.
Mojtaba Tabatabaei’s portraits of Iranian activists and significant cultural and political figures are blunt indictments of censorship and social marginalization.
One of his works depicts a purposefully blurry image of Mohammad Mosaddegh, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran who had sought to nationalize the oil industry. His efforts were opposed by the United States and the United Kingdom, who wanted to control the region’s oil extraction
In 1953, a coup d’etat was orchestrated by the CIA and the British Secret Intelligence Service. Mosaddegh was ousted and imprisoned. Tabatabaei put a flower over the prime minister’s mouth, a symbol of his silencing.
“Cycle” is a small wall-mounted mixed media work by Azita Moradkhani. Casting her nude body with clay, she challenges the cultural disconnects between public and private, and sexuality and repression. The form includes collarbone, breast and a bit of belly.
Pink and white floral patterns etch the surface and a tiny tree branch erupts from the spot where the areola should be, as if nature itself were being defiant.
Amir Ali Ghasemi’s four cibachrome prints from his “Party Series” are intriguing. They all feature young Iranians doing things in private homes that young people all over the globe do: dance, drink, gossip, flirt, indulge.
One of the photographs is at a birthday party. A slice of thickly frosted cake sits on a plate in the foreground. On a table behind is the familiar pink striped bag from a Victoria’s Secret shop, suggesting that even a racy negligee might be too subversive to the current regime.
But what is truly fascinating about the “Party Series” images is the faces and features — even the skin tone — of the partygoers are literally whitewashed, making them unidentifiable to protect them from retribution, even as they are fashionably attired. And there is something about the erasure of the features that evokes Alex Katz.
There is much more to contemplate and enjoy in this exhibition including a video of black crude oil gurgling from a park fountain by Hamed Noori; the old school monochromatic photographs of women in dated garb situated near not-very modern objects such cameras and telephones by Shadi Ghadirian, and Ghazaleh Hedayat’s “Contact,” a self-portrait scratched to obscurity, a commentary on female self-censorship.
“Contemporary Iranian Art & the Historical Imagination” is on display at the CVPA Camus Gallery, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth.
Don Wilkinson is a painter and art critic who lives in New Bedford. Contact him at Don.Wilkinson@gmail.com. His reviews run each week in Coastin’.