January 12–April 2, 2016
Opening: Tuesday, January 12, 6–8pm
Grey Art Gallery
New York University
100 Washington Square East
New York
Hours: Tuesday–Friday 11am–6pm,
Wednesday 11am–8pm, Saturday 11am–5pm
T +212 998 6780
F +212 995 4024
[email protected]
Drawing on its unparalleled collection of modern Iranian art, NYU’s Grey Art Gallery presents Global/Local 1960–2015: Six Artists from Iran. The exhibition includes approximately 90 works, comprising paintings, sculpture, drawings, photographs, video, and a large mixed-media installation, among which are some 20 works from the Abby Weed Grey Collection at NYU. Global/Local is the first major museum exhibition in the U.S. to include both pioneering Iranian modernists and emerging artists working in Tehran and abroad. Featuring works from three generations—Faramarz Pilaram (1937–83), Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1937), Chohreh Feyzdjou (1955–96), Shiva Ahmadi (b. 1975), Shahpour Pouyan (b. 1980), and Barbad Golshiri (b. 1982)—the exhibition sheds light on the delicate balancing acts required for those working outside the art world’s dominant North American–Western European axis. In particular it illuminates how each of these six artists has participated in international art discourses, merging global awareness with local traditions over a 55-year span that was punctuated by the 1979 Iranian Revolution and subsequent eight-year war with Iraq. Although the artists in Global/Local have developed their own personal and individual styles, all acknowledge that they have drawn great inspiration from their Persian heritage—in particular architecture, decorative and folk art, and poetry.
Faramarz Pilaram is one of the first modern Iranian artists to employ both calligraphic forms and Shiite iconography. His work often references Persian architecture, with its highly ornamented surfaces and immersive environments. The artist’s Mosques of Isfahan series, on view in Global/Local, refers to the city’s famed houses of worship. The exhibition will also feature works on paper from the 1960s exhibited for the first time.
Parviz Tanavoli is arguably Iran’s foremost sculptor and, through his close friendship with Abby Grey, helped shape the Grey’s remarkable holdings, which include the largest grouping of his work in a public institution. Turning to pre-Islamic sculpture and architecture for inspiration, Tanavoli helped establish the first Iranian modernist school—Saqqakhaneh. In addition to paintings and works on paper, Global/Local will feature 11ofhissculptures, including early pieces made from scrap metal that will be shown for the first time ever.
Chohreh Feyzdjou left Tehran for Paris in 1975 to study at the Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts and then at the Sorbonne. She remained in France following Iran’s 1979 Revolution, intensifying her already instilled sense of displacement. She materialized these feelings in her Boutique projects, installations that reimagine the rug shops and pharmacy shelves in Iran’s iconic bazaars. Global/Local will present a selection of these works for the first time in the US.
Shiva Ahmadi left Iran in 1999 to study in Michigan, where she received MFAs from both the Cranbrook Academy of Art and Wayne State University. Her vibrant paintings and videos, informed by Persian miniature painting, address current conflicts—especially those associated with war, politics, and social injustice. Global/Local will include Lotus (2014), Ahmadi’s video, which adapts her 2013 painting of the same title into a single-channel animation.
Shapour Pouyan grew up in Isfahan surrounded by the same architecture that had inspired Pilaram. He studied art and science at Tehran University of Art and received an MFA from Pratt Institute. Employing images and patterns from traditional Iranian art, he critiques a tradition that, he believes, is mired in the past. Global/Local will include his Projectiles, suspended sculptures that feature traditional Persian metalwork, among other works.
Barbad Golshiri belongs to a generation of artists who, working primarily in Iran, are consciously distancing themselves from more lyrical Persian exoticisms. Global/Local will feature his sculptural tombstones from his series Curriculum Mortis, which also includes photographs of cemeteries, videos, and performances.
Organized by NYU’s Grey Art Gallery and curated by director Lynn Gumpert, Global/Local will be accompanied by an illustrated publication and an extensive roster of public programs.
Admission
Suggested donation: 3 USD; NYU students, faculty, and staff: free of charge
*Images above: (1) Shiva Ahmadi, Lotus (detail), 2014. Digital video, color, sound. Asia Society, New York. Gift of Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz, 2015. (2) Chohreh Feyzdjou, Série K (detail), 1992. Paper, cloth, glue, pigment, and walnut stain. Fonds national d’art contemporain; CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux. (3) Barbad Golshiri, Cenotaph of Arin Mirkan (detail), 2014–15. Black-and-white digital print. Courtesy the artist and Aaran Gallery, Tehran. (4) Parviz Tanavoli, Last Poet of Iran (detail), 1962. Oil on canvas. Grey Art Gallery, New York University Art Collection. Bequest of Abby Weed Grey, G1983.32. (5) Faramarz Pilaram, Untitled (detail), 1972. Oil on canvas. Collection of Houman M. Sarshar, New York. (6) Shahpour Pouyan, Unthinkable Thoughts, 2014. Ceramic. Courtesy the artist and Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai.
