Persianesque: Iranian Magazine

New York–ILLUMINATIONS (After Arthur Rimbaud) an exhibition of sculpture, video and installation by 16 well-known and emerging artists who work with light, will be on view at Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller (LTMH) Gallery from September 15 through October 15, 2010.

Inspired by a collection of poetry entitled Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), the exhibition is curated by Ashok Adicéam, an independent curator and art advisor. (A fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by Adicéam will accompany the exhibition.)

Creating a revealing dialogue between artists living and working in the East and West, ILLUMINATIONS (After Arthur Rimbaud) highlights the strength of light to bind different cultures together.

As Rimbaud wrote, “…the soul for the soul, summing up everything, perfumes and sounds and colors.”

While a number of the artists are inspired by neon lighting, Iranian artist Leila Pazooki, uses blue neon tubes to sculpt a Persian word in Orientalism, 2010.

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Persian Dolls, 2009 by Negar Ahkami--Original Image via LTMH

Southampton, NY–An exhibition showcasing the work of important and emerging artists from the Middle East, Turkey, Europe, and the U.S. will be on view at Tripoli Gallery of Contemporary Art at 30A Jobs Lane in Southampton from September 1 through 29, 2010.

East Meets West on the East End will feature painting, sculpture and video by 12 contemporary artists.  The exhibition is co-presented by Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller (LTMH) Gallery, New York, and Tripoli Gallery, Southampton, and organized by Leila Heller.  An opening for the exhibition will be held on Wednesday, September 1, from 6 to 8 p.m.  A portion of the proceeds from the exhibition will benefit the Southampton Fresh Air Home, a camp for physically challenged children.

East Meets West on the East End will mark summer’s end with a look at beauty and tranquility while exploring the artists’ synergies and differences.  The artists in the exhibition include Roya Akhavan, Shoja Azari and Shahram Karimi, Reza Derakshani, William Hillman, Nir Hod, Rachel Hovnanian, Peter Hristoff, Alexis Laurent, Arnaud Rivieren, Martin Saar, Elizabeth Thompson and Negar Ahkami.

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Coffee House Painting 2009 by Shoja Azari

Shoja Azari’s first solo exhibition in New York City “Icons,” will feature six new video works which examine the role of saints and heroes in modern society.

In the early 20th century, coffee house-style painting flourished in Iran. Based on Persian mythology, the large paintings depicted the heat of battle, the afterlife and martyrdom, truth and justice, and the apocalypse. The paintings expressed respect for religious and traditional beliefs and served as a backdrop for entertainment in the coffee houses of Iran as storytellers would act out the epic scenes depicted in the paintings.

Azari has appropriated coffee house painter Mohammad Modabber’s, The Day of Judgment, a painting dense with imagery and symbolism, and turned it into video work projected onto canvas, Coffee House Painting, 2009, infused with images of today’s saints and sinners.

The Icons series, 2010, is comprised of five video works that appropriate popular posters of saints in Iran. Inspired by how Renaissance painters humanized religious figures, Azari seeks to make icons resonate in a new way.

Iranian-born Shoja Azari has lived in New York City since 1983. His films and video installations have been screened and exhibited widely around the world. Most recently, his video work has been seen in solo gallery exhibitions in London; Turin, Italy; and Köln, Germany, and at art fairs including Art Basel, Switzerland, and ARCO, Madrid. Since 1997, he has collaborated with Shrin Neshat on film and video installations including Women Without Men, which won the Silver Lion for best director at the 2009Venice Film Festival. He has also collaborated with Shahram Karimi on video paintings which project video on painted surfaces.

Video work by artist and filmmaker Shoja Azari will be on view at Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller (LTMH) Gallery from May 4-27, 2010.