Visual Dialogues | The Book of Kings | Shirin Neshat & Fereydoun Ave | March 2019
Secret of Words
Mehran Mohajer & Sadegh Tirafkan
November 2006
​
Total Arts Gallery at the Courtyard and Massoud Nader Present exhibition of Photography by Sadegh Tirafkan with support of Silk Road Gallery this exhibition is accompanied by photographs of Mehran Mohajer Sadegh Tirafkan is a persevering artist who navigates through time and culture in search of his place and identity as an Iranian man in the contemporary world. The medium of photography has become his main platform to construct powerful visual plays, using a combination of elements that he seasons sufficiently with symbolism.
The significance of symbolism throughout Tirafkan’s body of work comes from his Persian root in which direct dialogue is rarely used, but frequently replaced by symbolic languages. How do you inform a culture that has three thousand years of history, rich in tradition and essentially a homogenous and male dominated society? Tirafkan expresses his concerns through images of numerous self-portraits and portraits of friends. He once said, "I began photography by recording what surrounded me. Now I take what is around me in the studio and make it into what I see through the prism of my life and culture." Tirafkan poses himself and others in the studio time after time to explore the meaning of being a contemporary Iranian. Blending tradition, history and memory, he recreates visually compelling scenes that build visceral connection to his ancient country. And this is where the strength and beauty of Tirafkan's work lie.
In reinventing and revisiting Iranian tradition he is also criticizing and challenging his ancestors' long-standing authority. In spite the highly eloquent appearances; I see two hidden trends in his work, which the artist has perhaps introduced even without realizing it: a theatrical staging of all the historic drama of his country, all the painful events of which he experienced intensely, and a discreet journey towards a spirituality which emanates from his whole vision. Here, Tirafkan surreptitiously rejoins the mystical quest which remains, whether we like it or not, the key-stone of any metaphysical edifice of the Iranian world. Born in Iran in 1965, Tirafkan trained as a photographer at the University of Fine Arts in Tehran. Since the late 1990’s he has participated in numerous solo exhibitions and group shows, in Tehran, Paris and New York.
Tirafkan’s work offers an eloquent meditation on modern Iranian man’s relationship to his past and on his search for a meaningful identity in the present. Identity, history and memory have been central concerns in the work of non-western artists since the era of colonialism. Tirafkan, frequently using himself as a model, revisits and reinvents these themes in his series of enigmatic yet visually compelling photographs. He uses words and symbols to communicate with the audience and
Abstract & Lanscape
Mohseni Kermanshahi
February 2005
​
A. Mohseni was born in 1960, in Kermanshah west of Iran. He started painting with Master Rahim Navesi before moving to Tehran. He held his first one-man show in 1994 and has come a long way from his humble beginnings. Landscape, traditional life and nature were always his main subjects to paint and after moving to UAE he found this passion in the local scenery. T
his exhibition would be an exceptional one in Mohseni’s career since he is entering a new period after 10 years of professionally painting landscapes and still life witch is still the close to Mohseni’s heart in a different way. Mohseni has participated in more than 40 solo and group exhibitions in Iran including Tehran Contemporary Art Museum, Australia, Kuwait and the UAE. Mohseni has won a special award from Tehran Contemporary Art Museum as the best Artist of the year in 1996. Mohseni has published 2 books, which are: 1. Nature in the painting of Abdol Hossein Mohseni 2. Painting of Abdol Hossein Mohsenis He is working on two new books at present.
​
Laal Collection Volume ||
Fereydoun Ave Collection
February - September 2024
​
This exhibition, coinciding with Art Dubai, spotlights five decades of the renowned Iranian artist Fereydoun Ave's collection of modern and contemporary Iranian and international art (1959 - present). It is a complementary presentation to the initial chapter of this traveling exhibition series, originally conceived by the Carnegie Museum of Art for the 58th Carnegie Internationa and later on view at the Jameel Art Center, Dubai.
Fereydoun Ave’s Laal Collection, named after the artist’s mother, forms a testament to his interlocking roles as an artist, curator, designer, and collector. The body of work offers a visual portrait of Ave’s existence. The collection departs from Ave’s early influences in Western art. Works by the likes of Warhol, Rauschenberg, and Cy Twombly, with whom Ave shared a Seychelles studio during the 1990s, come into conversation with pieces by the artists that Ave encountered in Iran - Zenderoudi, Mohases, Kiarostami - and the rising talent that he acquired works from later in life.
Ave embraces the perspective that an artist should experiment with everything, not confined to a single medium or mode of artmaking. This philosophy is reflected in the selected works, showcasing far-reaching diversity in medium, approach, and aesthetic concerns.
Spread across two floors in Total Arts Gallery, the exhibition commences with a single work by Ave, part of his Letters to the Dead series, a recent and ongoing body of work through which the artist expresses the unsaid to those that he has lost. The placement of the work aims to provide insight into the contemporary concerns of the collector, artist, and curator before visitors navigate his collection.
This group exhibition brings together over 70 artists, featuring works spanning disciplines including painting, sculpture, works on paper, archival material, and photographs. The collection offers a gaze into the dynamic and contested cultural history of 20th and 21st-century Iran and beyond. While there is no overt conceptual or technical thread connecting the artworks, Ave, as curator and collector is the guiding force that ties everything together. He understands the works coming together in visual dialogue, a conversation transcending regions, moments in time, and easily readable points of identification.
The Laal Collection’s Journey
Over the past five decades, Fereydoun Ave has amassed a significant collection of artwork, anchored in personal experiences, connections, sensibilities, and circumstances. As an artist, curator, and designer, Ave has been a central figure in shaping Iran's cultural landscape. Upon returning to Iran in 1970 after completing his education abroad, he orchestrated seminal exhibitions, established independent art spaces, and provided crucial support to numerous emerging artists. Fundamental to Ave is the broader accessibility and opportunity for public interaction with the Laal Collection. Public access, in his view, serves as a ready-made reference, allowing people to connect with works he collected before, after, and during the Islamic revolution, forming a bridge across three definitive periods.
Exhibited Artists
Afsoon | Nazgol Ansarinia | Reza Aramesh | Shaqayeq Arabi | Sonia Balassanian | Reza Bangiz | Christo | Reza Derakhshani | Mostafa Dashti | Bita Fayazi | Shadi Ghadirian | Mohammad Hossein Gholamzadeh | Rokni Haerizadeh | Ramin Haerizadeh | Ghasem Hajizadeh | Sahand Hesamian | Shahla Hosseini | Hadi Hazaveh | Robert Jacob | Abbas Kiarostami | Farideh Lashai | Farshid Maleki | Farshid Mesghali | Joan Mitchelle | Robert Motherwell | Houman Mortazavi | Shirin Neshat | Timo Nasseri | Leila Pazooki | Shahpour Pouyan | Pantea Rahmani | Hesam Rahmanian | Behjat Sadr | Faisal Samra | Parviz Tanavoli | Cy Twombly | Andy Warhol | Dariush Zandi | Hossein Zenderoudi and more.
