April 1, 2007 |
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Pencil Censorship: Mehdi Hosseini Ashlaqi
By Behrang Samadzadegan
In mid-January, GOLESTAN Art Gallery played host to new drawings of Mehdi Hosseini Ashlaqi. This 27-year old artist received his master's degree in Illustration from the Art University in Tehran. He has shown his works in many group exhibits since 2001 but the Golestan occasion marks his first solo exhibit.
Contrary to his more famous namesake, formalist painter and scholar {Mehdi Hosseini}, the younger Hosseini has little penchant for two-dimensional, post-painterly abstractions and in fact persists on using primitive and classic tools. Pencil has remained the artist's chief tool in the past 9 years. During these years, Hosseini Ashlaqi has tried to deconstruct form. His efforts have led to a personal approach that is akin to a stylized figurative language (somewhere between {Hockney} and {Rivers} in a post-structural environment composed of figurative tendencies and classical structures, yet illusory and poetic).
His studies in Illustration have not kept Hosseini away from painterly contemplations. To the contrary, the tension between painting and illustration has not resolved in these works, but lead to funny images that evoke no identity without caption. This tension has had a positive effect on his works. Contrary to his past experiences, in this collection we come face to face with a narrative illusion and an accessible theme that springs out of personal emotions and, through a mild but bitter sarcasm, points to a general subject matter that, according to the artist, is nonetheless frightening. To transmit this sarcasm, Hosseini is using visual elements with care (though not conservatively). He has also succeeded in hiding the erotic visual elements of his drawings from the less professional gaze. Captions play an important role in the works of this artist. Nevertheless, the image owes nothing to the text, nor does the text sing a separate tune. It must be said that in some works the coquettish swirl of fantasia has resulted in works that are overtly jocular and amphibious, but since Hosseini Ashlaqi is treading on uncharted terrains, and in the hope that he will further polish his language, I invite the reader to behold these images and leave the criticism out. |
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Behrang Samadzadegan is a 27 year old artist and writer living and working in Tehran, where he received both his BA and MA, and is the visual editor of TehranAvenue. In addition to his visual and literary work, he also teaches. His recent solo exhibition H&H (Heaven and Hell) at Tehran’s esteemed 13 Vanak gallery was named one of Art AsiaPacific Almanac’s highlights of the 2006 Iranian art scene. He was also part of a three-artist contingent to Armenia’s Gyumri Biennial. |
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This article first appeared in Tehran Avenue's monthly newsletter and has been reprinted with the permission of the author and the original publication.
The magazine TehranAvenue began in 2001 with the intent of broadening the scope of media coverage of the Iranian arts scene. Their website is available in both Farsi and English. For more information visit www.tehranavenue.com |
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