During an initial trip back to my native country of Iran, after years of absence, I started to cut and connect images left

behind (school books, childhood drawings, etc.) to materials I had brought back during the trip (airline brochures, travel

magazines, etc.) Assembled on a field of black, different subjects were sewn together in a raw attempt to connect past

with the present, trespassing time as well as cultural boundaries. In 1979 I had left Iran as a child and seventeen years

later was returning as an adult man. After returning to US, I continued this work by sewing narratives of disembodied

identities, leading way to a more formalized process. Singular subjects were photographed in segments and sewn

together; an elemental deconstruction favoring process over representation. Subjects ranged from individual portraits to

replicas of statues from the Capitoline Museum in Rome and the former Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, NY.

Concurrently, I started to apply ideas of subject-object unity to the painting process by using painted lines instead of

thread lines to connect different geographies of the canvas together, allowing the see-through backgrounds to merge

with the foreground. I used this application of lines to explore personal as well as cultural history through labyrinthine

portraits of different subjects between 2005 to 2015. 

The Inspiration behind my paintings since 2016 has been found in various subjects, ranging from iconic images of

animation to Persian miniature paintings as well as narratives of the Iranian oil industry. As a child, growing up in Iran in

the 1970s, I was surrounded by various Western influences, from reproductions of classical paintings to comic strips

and animations  created by entertainment conglomerates on screen and in print media. In the past years, I have been

investigating the power of these industries to distribute such images on a global scale as well as their influence in

shaping personal and collective identity. In ‘Oh, Sweet Bitter world’ ( 2016 ) Kim Jong Un and Bugs Bunny come

together atop the North Korean leader’s submarine to play an intricate dance of hide and seek, weaving an open

narrative about their speculative roles. Additionally by incorporating themes from my personal and cultural history into

the animated storylines, I negotiate a narrative of inclusion and regain a sense of equilibrium and historical balance

through reinvention and representation. Works such as ‘No Super in hijacking a hero’, ‘In the light of your shadow’ and

‘The unwritten history of stains’ examine the role of Western superheroes in reshaping cultural identity. Compositional

juxtaposition as well as interlaced elements in works such as ‘Silent Song - (Rumination)’ are used to conjure themes of

displacement and threats of contamination.

The protagonists in these works, come to life through juxtaposition of numerous lines placed together. The paintings

often start as a sketch that becomes more abstract in the physical painting process as I break down different volumes

into lines, circles and other smaller shapes, creating interlaced areas of texture throughout the work. Looking at each

piece from a distance the characters occupy their narratives autonomously. However, by stepping closer the myths often

start to dissolve while other truths are revealed in the work. 

Since 2017, straight lines have been additionally employed to construct subject matters in my paintings. This modular

application has afforded a comprehensive play with volume and space, giving birth to a new direction in linear figurative

painting with open-ended possibilities.

 

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