Body Language in the eyes of Iranian artists

FA Gallery's Group Exhibition of Iranian artists: 

Iman Safaei, Katayoun Karami, Mohamad Mehdi Tabatabaie, Samira Eskandarfar, Shima Esfandiary, Jahed Sarboland.  

The Opening is 7th of March at 7.30 PM

Body Language

The first and oldest forms of artwork in existence are figurative or representational works in the form of cave paintings. Throughout history, figurative works have been created to form associations between viewers and the artists’ vision of society and religion.

The six Iranian artists in Body Language have also tried to focus on the current conditions in their society and the region at large. 

Samira Eskandarfar, Iman Safaei and Katayoun Karami challenge the traditional gender roles enforced in an Islamic society. Eskandarfar’s Numbered Beauties are portraits of finely groomed men. 

The inclusion of a rose in each work as the most common symbol of love, depicts a softer and more romantic side of the Middle Eastern male while Safaei’s soldiers and pahlevans or athletes, recall a tougher side. Katayoun Karami’s double self portraits depict her on one side and a style of hair – the physical attribute every Muslim woman is required to conceal – on the other.

 

 Human & Numbers by Iman Safaei, 2008, 80 x 106 cm, embroidery and digital print on canvas. 

Shima Esfandiari and Mojtaba Tabatabaee depict illnesses, both physical and emotional. Esfandiari’s female forms in various positions – under a blanket, slumped over or on hands and knees – all hint at a level of discomfort and pain and suffering. Tabatabaee’s large canvases or human forms in grey tonalities are lit using small red lights along curved lines resembling scars.

 

Day by Shima Esfandiari, 182 x 105 cm, mixed media on canvas

Jahed Sarboland’s German Expressionistic inspired works focus on the current political conditions in society. Faces commonly associated with the behind-the-desk characters of a bureaucratic system peer out of these brightly colored canvases in an impersonal and distant gaze.

 

Untitled by Jahed Sarboland, 2010, 195 x 195 cm, acrylic on canvas

Body Language is the reply of socially committed artists living in a post-revolutionary society struggling to live by the standards of that revolution. The desperation to fulfill their desire for a more open and modern society is clearly visible in the works of these six artists.

 

Simin Dehghani

The Exhibition will continue till 24th of March, 2011

Via Art Kuwait