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.
​
Architectural Landscape: Ancient Persia
Lynn Davis
February 2017
​
Lynn Davis (b. 1944) is an American photographer, well known for her large-scale square format photographs. Lynn Davis works through series, generally in black and white with a distinctive use of tonality: intense greys, soft blacks and whites plus the frequent use of gold and selenium tones. Her carefully organized compositions and a controlled modulation of light also define her style and give her work an impressive sense of grandeur.
Her style combines minimalism and the monumental, focusing on the motif and eliminating the surroundings. Lynn Davis aims to capture the beauty of places and the emotions aroused by their contemplation. We see neither figures nor signs of presence, or anything that provides a context: her photographs are silent images of erosion and decay, conveying all the beauty and nostalgia of the passing of time.
From 1962 to 1966, Davis attended the University of Colorado and the University of Minnesota, and received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1970. In her early years, Davis worked as a photojournalist, focusing on portrait photography and art in her spare time, always recognizing the beauty of the human form.
​
Since her first trip to Greenland in 1986, Davis has dealt with monumental landscapes and famous cultural sites, for which she is internationally known today. Her trips have taken her to India, China, Kenya, and the Middle East, and she frequently returns to Greenland.
Architectural Landscape: Ancient Persia - Lynn Davis had been interested in Iran and the remains of its ancient civilization for some time but it was not until 2001 and following a period of investigation and research that she travelled to the country to work on the series Ancient Persia. The architecture of that civilization had retained the marks of the numerous different cultures that had co-existed in that region since the ancient times. In her photographs Davis captures the feelings that she experienced in front of the remains of an advanced civilization, from Pasargadae, the first capital of the Achaemenid Empire, to the impressive structures of the “ice houses”, and in particular the fascinating Zoroastrian “towers of silence” in which the dead were placed to protect the land from their impure bodies and which notably moved the artist. Detailed compositions and highly striking viewpoints come together in these almost abstract works charged with a meditative force.
Her works can be seen in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and many more. In 1999, the J. Paul Getty Museum showed her works, and the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, AZ, dedicated a solo exhibition to her in the same year.
​
GPP Photo Week 2017 is the MENA region’s longest-running international photography festival. Packed with exhibitions, photo walks, special events, and workshops led by the world’s leading photographers, it is a week uniquely designed to inspire, challenge, and connect photographers
and enthusiasts from around the globe.
