Where the Two Seas Meet

Press Release

O Gallery presents "Where the Two Seas Meet", Ashkan Sanei's (b. 1984 Urumieh) fourth solo show with the gallery.

Initially, this project started as a documentary effort to record observations and archive information, but eventually took on new layers. The works in "Where the Two Seas Meet" are divided into two sections: the first, created during a residency in Per Kirkibi's summer studio in northern Denmark (2022-2023), includes internet-based documentation, notes, films and photographs. The second section continued the artist’s studio in Tehran and Urumieh over the past two years. 
In the first section, two series of works with/on paper titled "Deep Blue of the Seas" and "Against the Background", along with a video and a neon work are exhibited. Additionally, project documentation and several related works are presented for further explanation of the ideas.
In the "Deep Blue of the Seas" series, paper surfaces with cool and muted colors form color fields with semi-geometric/semi-organic shapes that evoke the calmness and light of dawn. In "Against the Context", bricolage works using old envelopes, paper and other used objects take on a raw and fragmented aesthetic, reflecting the idea of travel and displacement. 
For the past several years, paper has been Sanei's main medium alongside his interest in other media such as video, short films and installation, raising questions about the expressive capacities of paper. 
The subject of the exhibition of the exhibition broadly refers to the delicate yet persistent border between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Despite the simple physical explanation of this phenomenon, for the artist, it represents unstable, fragile and metaphorical states.