March 7, 2017Art Dubai - Contemporary Booth B4 For its first participation at Art Dubai, O Gallery presents works by Iranian artists Ali Nassir (b. 1951 Tehran, lives and works in Berlin), Shideh Tami (b. 1962 Tehran, lives and works in Tehran) and Shahrzad Changalvaee (b. 1983 Tehran, lives and works in New York) whose body of work embody certain typology of lines, forms and sounds. Ali Nassir is an artist whose approach to painting is embedded in his deep connection to the painting traditions of his homeland. The portrayal of the human figure and existence have formed the basis of his work for the past four decades as he documents his protagonists on a daily basis. In the purely subjective world of these expressive works, figures resist the portrayal of a specific human being or geography and instead lend themselves to the documentation of the "becoming." Of this series, nine works on paper are on display. In his most recent collection, large canvases selected for Art Dubai, he once again removes figures from his work and instead focuses on space and the relation of the forms to one another. Nassir expresses movement not only with his strokes but also with the colors he chooses and juxtaposes next to one another. Form and color together invite the audience to move from one element to another without expressing a specific narration. Shideh Tami is a self-taught painter, sculptor, and poet. She expressively covers her surfaces with portraits (mostly of herself) with little concern for detail. Her work is intense and rough, meant to penetrate the audience’s soul and mess with their heads. What have these faces got to say? What have they been through? There is no definite answer. Selected for Art Dubai are three works on paper from her famed deformed portraits. Also exhibited are crumpled and disfigured sculptures, cast in bronze. By manipulating her portraits to accommodate the material she employs, Tami further seeks herself through the exploration and practice of the human representation, inviting the audience along on her journey. Shahrzad Changalvaee challenges material accumulation in art-making by using language as sculpting material in her "Spoken on a Clay" series. She uses words as construction units to make sculptures of objects of desire. The plums of clay are formed by her mouth, teeth biting on each piece as she utters a word. By borrowing from language, these sculptures act as signs, along with fragmented found images generating material constructing a talisman of the object of desire. Found images such as the firing moment of a gun pipe of the tanks being used in the Middle East disaster wars or child laboring in Nepal or an old drawing of a slave which now adopts many captions, all getting fragmented by being unexpectedly yet urgently recalled to the present moment. In these works, the building is replaced by mouthing, disobeying against whatever that can be uttered. Also, on display are two photographs from the series "Ksi, Ein, An", self-portraits of the artist, in a way documenting the process of her creations. Ali Nassir Born in 1951 in Tehran, Ali Nassir graduate in painting with a masters degree from Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, Germany. He currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Select exhibitions include: Mute Theatre, O Gallery, Tehran, Iran (2016); Khak Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2014); Khak Gallery, Tehran, Iran (2011); Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Galerie Tammen, Berlin, Germany (2007); Tehran Meets Berlin, Galerie Tammen, Berlin, Germany (2005); Isfahan Museum of Contemporary Art, Isfahan, Iran (2002); VI International Art Triennale Majdanek 2000, Lublin, Poland; 10 Johre Galerie am Ratswall, Bitterfeld, Germany (2010); Galerie am Ratswall, Bitterfeld, Germany; Galerie Kunst und Objekt, Leipzig, Germany (1998); Studio Galerie, Hamburg, Germany (1997); Galerie am Chamissoplatz, Berlin, Germany (1996); Tehran Drawing Biennial, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran (1991), Kunstmesse Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany; Studio Galerie, Hamburg, Germany (1990); 200 Jahre Französische Revolution, Kunsthalle Berlin, Berlin, Germany (1989); Realismusstudio der NGBK Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Studio Galerie, Hamburg, Germany; Rotor Gallery, Goteborg, Sweden (1986); Summer Universiade Festival 85, Kobe, Japan; Kunst und Kultur aus drei Städten, Berlin - Wuppertal - Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany; Galerie 9 bis 9, Berlin, Germany (1985) Recent Publication: Ali Nassir, Works on Paper, Published by O Gallery on the occasion of the artist’s solo exhibition at the gallery, Tehran, Iran (2016) Public Collections: Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Shideh Tami Born in 1962 in Tehran, Shideh Tami is a self-taught painter living and working in Tehran, Iran. Select exhibitions include: Ebb and Flow, O Gallery, Tehran, Iran (2016); Homa Gallery, Tehran, Iran (2011); I am not Half the Man Used to be, Curated by Simin Dehghani, Dar Al Funoon Gallery, Kuwait, Kuwait (2010); Etemad Gallery, Tehran, Iran; Dar Al Funoon Gallery, Kuwait, Kuwait; XVA and Ave Gallery, Dubai, UAE; Masques of Shahrzad, Candlestar Gallery, London, UK (2008); Ave Gallery, Tehran, Iran; Iran Heritage, London, UK (2007); Rebell Minds Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2005); National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia (2004); Articultural Gallery, LA, USA; Williams Tower Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA; The National Arts Club, NY, USA (2003); Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France (1999); Mansoureh Hosseini Gallery, Tehran,Iran (1994) Recent Publication: Shideh Tami, Published by O Gallery on the occasion of the artist’s solo exhibition at the gallery, Tehran, Iran (2016) Public Collections: The British Museum Shahrzad Changalvaee Born in 1983 in Tehran, Shahrzad Changalvaee graduated from Yale University with a masters in sculpture in 2015. She currently lives and works in New York, NY. Select exhibitions include: You Cannot the Same River Twice, O Gallery, Tehran, Iran; Future Remnants of a Missing Word (with Constanza Alarcon), Meyohas Gallery, New York, NY, USA ; Precious Fragments, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait, Kuwait (2016); Ksi, Ein and An, A Love Story, VSC Gallery at School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, USA (2015), Video Snack 5, Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Video Mixer, GreenHall Gallery, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT, USA; TIME ITEM, Green Hall Gallery, New Haven, CT, USA; Video Snack 4, Regina Rex Gallery, New York, NY, USA (2015); Recalling the Future: Post Revolutionary Iranian Arts, Brunei Gallery; SOAS, London, UK (2014); Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai, China (2013); What Lies Beneath, Isabelle van den Eynde Gallery, Dubai, UAE; PERSIA NOW: Contemporary Iranian Art, New Albion Gallery, Sydney, Australia (2012); How I Learned to Stop Fearing and Love the Exotic Art, Jamm Art Foundation, Kuwait, Kuwait; Magic of Persia Contemporary Art Prize, Finalists Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London, UK (2011); Conference of the Birds, exhibition of Iranian contemporary artists, London, UK (2008) Publications include: You Did not Arrive in Time Dusk Fell Instead, by Mehdi Navid & Shahrzad Changalvaee, Bongah Pubications, Tehran, Iran (2016); Arabesque 2: Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia, Gestalten, Germany (2011); Arabesque: Graphic Design from the Arab World and Persia, Gestalten, Germany (2009)
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