Golnaz Fathi is a young Iranian artist whose paintings have been exhibited in a number of important galleries and museums in the Middle East, Europe and the United States over the past twelve years. Her work is transnational both in conception and in execution as it incorporates her extensive training in traditional Iranian calligraphy, graphic design, painting (self taught), and autobiography. Whereas cultural motifs and oblique references to places inside Iran are incorporated into her more recent series of paintings, her latest body of work includes white areas on the canvas signifying silence. (1) A selection of Fathi’s compositions, circles divided in half or quartered was shown in an exhibition of the artist’s works, Un / Written, held in Dubai, U.A.E., in June 2005.
146 x 130 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2003
These particular compositions are related to a specific site in Isfahan, Imam Square, covering an area larger than that of San Marcos Square in Venice, and flanked by important architectural spaces including mosques known for the particularly beautiful tiles of the domes and decorated façades, and the entrance to the large covered bazaar; the interior divided into separate areas for different types of goods for sale, such as carpets, textiles or metalwork. (2) Located in the center of Iran, in an earlier period Isfahan was called “half the world.” It was the 16th century capitol established by Shah Abbas I, the Safavid monarch known for his patronage of the arts and business. He brought skilled craftspeople to the city, many of whom contributed to his ambitious building campaign, as well as to other projects initiated during his rule.
Golnaz Fathi experienced a moment of intense personal insight while standing in the center of this immense space. According to the artist, the large expanse of the square, and the hidden interior spaces of the architectural sites around it, played an important role in the design of the paintings she completed after returning to Tehran from Isfahan. These paintings contain references to the concept of Isfahan as half the world, Imam Square, and the domes of the mosques through the sectioned circles of her compositions. In the first of the artworks completed after returning to Tehran Fathi used ultramarine and turquoise in reference to the decorated blue tiles of the dome of the mosque. For the second stage of the series Fathi relied on the rich colors of the ‘Ali Qapu Palace. The palace is an important architectural site for several reasons including the elaborately patterned exterior plaster, interior wall paintings, and the Musicians Room. With one exception the works end in monochromatic images; like the others these are also circles cut in half or quartered. However, the final painting includes the color red, a fragment of Hafez’ poem which is significant to the artist, and a straight thick black line leading out of the frame. According to the artist the inclusion of the red color signifies the end of a particularly difficult personal period and the move towards her most recent paintings. (3)
Red, green, blue, black, yellow and white are the colors of her palette for her new works, shown in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, June / July 2005. This series was described by one reviewer as a question. Her paintings carry ancient scripts of calligraphy which have no known translation, just words that have been entirely stripped of meaning, of typographies that hang in the air like question marks. (4)
Preferring to leave her work open to interpretation she chooses to not give them a name. She also does not title them ‘untitled.’ The content of her artwork is deliberately left ambiguous so that her audience has to see each work with his or her own “pictorial eye.” (5) To this end, this artist incorporates not quite discernable written text in her paintings, preferring they not be able to be read. Believing firmly in the imaginative ability of her audience, this artist provides few clues to direct viewers towards any particular understanding of a particular painting. For Fathi the work itself is the space in which a viewer can engage imaginatively with the object.
Intuitively engaging with artwork is a concept her Middle Eastern audience grasps without difficulty. When images of Fathi’s paintings were shown to fourth year art students at Zayed University’s Abu Dhabi campus, they quickly understood that what the artist wanted was for them to experience / feel them rather than to attempt to literally “read” them because they saw that the script in the paintings was not writing. Instead, except for a few very specific letters or numbers, it was for the most part loose strokes of paint. (6) However it is quite likely that an audience unfamiliar with the Persian language might understand these works differently. For example, the response of some western viewers of Shirin Neshat’s early series titled Women of Allah, containing Persian writing superimposed on photographs of Neshat, was an assumption that these were Islamic pronouncements against women. Instead, these were fragments of Iranian women’s poetry. (7)
In contrast to some western based Iranian artists, such as Shirin Neshat who incorporates orientalist tropes in her photographs, installations and films popular with western audiences, Golnaz Fathi’s artwork refers more broadly to place and culture which resonate with viewers from Iran and the surrounding region. The artists she considers important to her artistic development and understanding include Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Jean Degottex, Antonio Tapies, Cai Gao-Quiang, Shakir Hassan, and the early work of Iranian artist Zenderoudi. Fathi also finds the paintings of contemporary Iranian painter Farideh Lashei, compelling, particularly in regards to her handling of color and form.
Those who are unfamiliar with the range of artwork produced by contemporary Iranian artists living inside Iran, rather than in the diasporic communities in Europe or the United States, may find it difficult to know how to approach Golnaz Fathi’s paintings. From the early 1960s, the beginning of the modern Iranian art movement, to the period known as the cultural revolution in the early 1980s when galleries were closed, there was a vibrant community of artists, writers and poets whose work was exhibited or performed. Although the long duration of the Iran / Iraq war (1980-1988) made it difficult to sustain creative processes, many artists continued to work, including filmmakers whose works received critical acclaim when shown to audiences outside Iran, and artists who exhibited in alternative spaces such as private homes. Certainly Golnaz Fathi, whose childhood memories include the sounds of air raid sirens, would have been affected on some level by the experience of living through such a disturbing period. During an interview in June 2005, when the artist was Dubai for another exhibition, the artist stated that she would “breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn’t me or my family. . .” (8)
untitled, 120 x 120 cm. acrylic on canvas, 2004
In her recent work white is like a meditation on silence; the “space [she] gives the viewer to breathe.” (9) According to the artist, in using white in some of her compositions she has left a space for the viewer to pause, to take a breath. In contrast to the quiet space of white, red is the color of energy, blue is the color of the domes of the mosques “especially in Isfahan,” and black “which is the most complete color for me because it has everything. . . it can express all my true feelings. It is never the color of sadness.” (10) The yellow found in her newest work is a new color on her palette.
Although the paintings in her latest series are not calligraphic or specific lines of poetry, they are nevertheless influenced by the poems of the medieval Persian poet, Hafez. For Fathi,
It has always been Hafez and only one poem, but the point is that the poem is [itself] not important. I know it by heart and that is why I always use it unconsciously. Poetry is no longer important, it is important that I can treat [it] just the way that I want to exactly. I want people to treat the letters [in my work] as a form, although I should confess that the poem goes well with my character. It says that the world doesn’t wait—life goes on. (11)
The idea of life continuing on is one of the ways to consider Golnaz Fathi’s art. Life did go on for artists inside Iran following the revolution. Unlike those in Europe or the United States some of whom appear bound on the one side by the 1979 Iranian revolution, and on the other by the experience of diaspora, artists who remained or returned to Iran have found other avenues for expression. Galleries that were closed for a few years are open, and the art community continues to flourish in often unexpected ways when any type of restriction is imposed. While cultural references are embedded in the work of Iranian artists working inside the country, these artists are also members of the broader international art world. Their work is not artificially bound by borders. Golnaz Fathi’s artwork is representative of contemporary art inside Iran as well as her personal artistic vision.
Notes:
1. Golnaz Fathi. Telephone interview September 21, 2005. Much of the information in this article results from a series of telephone and email interviews with Golnaz Fathi, conducted over a period of several weeks during September 2005. I am grateful for the artist’s willingness to share her thoughts about the process of art making as well as specific details regarding the genesis of some of the themes embedded in her most recent series.
2. This square, previously called Maidan e Shah, or Royal Square, was renamed after the 1979 revolution, as were other sites or streets throughout the country that had association with royalty. Nevertheless, many still continue to call these sites by their pre-revolutionary names.
3. Golnaz Fathi. Personal communication. September 29, 2005.
4. “Looking Back in Anger” in 7 Days. http://www.7days.ae, Friday, September 7, 2005. The title of the essay is perplexing since the exhibition was titled Un/Written. In a telephone conversation on September 30, 2005, Fathi told me that she was surprised that the little she discussed regarding her experience during the Iran / Iraq war was the basis for the article rather than information about the then current exhibition. Readers might want to keep this in mind when accessing the article on line.
5. Golnaz Fathi. Telephone interview with the artist September 19. 2005.
6. Zayed University student population is exclusively female. Fathi’s images were shown to students enrolled in the Art in Theory course without first providing them any information about the artist or her work. Initially students found that what appeared to be almost but not quite text was confusing till they came close enough to the projected images to see that these works are not calligraphy. Then they quickly made the transition to concentrating on individual responses to compositional elements including color.
7. For example, see the introductory discussion about the difficulty in reading Shirin Neshat’s images in Jacqueline Larson’s catalogue that accompanied the 1997 Women of Allah exhibition in Vancouver, B.C.
8. Looking Back in Anger” in 7 Days. http://www.7days.ae, Friday, September 7, 2005
9. Golnaz Fathi. Email communication. September 27, 2005.
10. Golnaz Fathi. Email communication. September 27, 2005.
