Artist
Afsoon
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
12 x 16½ in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
12 x 16 ½ in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
12 x 16 ½ in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Untitled, 2013
From the series Persian Expressions
Print on Somerset artist paper of a watercolor and paper collage
16 ½ x 12 in
Deprivation, 2013
From the series Conference of the Birds
Linocut hand-printed on photograph
16 ½ x 12 in
Independence, 2013
From the series Conference of the Birds
Linocut hand-printed on photograph
16 ½ x 12 in
Love, 2013
From the series Conference of the Birds
Linocut hand-printed on photograph
16 ½ x 12 in
Quest, 2013
From the series Conference of the Birds
Linocut hand-printed on photograph
16 ½ x 12 in
Understanding, 2013
From the series Conference of the Birds
Linocut hand-printed on photograph
16 ½ x 12 in
Unity, 2013
From the series Conference of the Birds
Linocut hand-printed on photograph
16 ½ x 12 in
Astonishment, 2013
From the series Conference of the Birds
Linocut hand-printed on photograph
16 ½ x 12 in
Shirin Gallery NY is pleased to present a solo exhibition, Persian Expressions, featuring works by the artist Afsoon. The show surveys the artist’s recent series, Persian Expressions and Conference of the Birds. The series engage with cultural idioms and explore the essence and humor of Persian language. In these mixed-media works on paper, images combine with text, to describe the spirit of verbal expressions.
“In Iran we grew up exchanging all sorts of expressions from an early age,” writes Afsoon. “Someone would use one expression, we would laugh, shrug our shoulders and reply with another. We would converse in this way, or, as we say in Farsi, ‘We said flower, we heard flower.’ I have relearned forgotten expressions along with many new ones. Then some became an image, an idea in my imagination.”
The Conference of the Birds series is more contemplative. It responds to Farid ud-Din Attar’s mystical 12th century poem. It shows a flock of birds, which represent human souls, as they go on a long journey searching for something that was within them all along. These works, together with Persian Expressions, form an exhibition of Afsoon’s visual responses to Persian vernacular and poetry.
Afsoon has previously exhibited her works in Dubai, UAE; Paris and Saint-Tropez, France; Rome and Bodio Lomnago, Italy; Cologne and Munich, Germany; Lahti, Finland; Lucerne, Switzerland; Brussels, Belgium; Amsterdam, Holland; Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary; Hong Kong, China; and solo exhibitions in New York, London and Marrakech, Morocco. Her work is included in the collections at The British Museum, London, UK; La Fondation Pierre Berge, Paris, France; Sabanci Collection, Istanbul, Turkey; Salsali Private Museum and the Farjam Collection, both Dubai, UAE. She has been included in various publications, including, Contemporary Iranian Art: From the Street to the Studio, by Talinn Grigor; Pearls on the Ocean Floor, a documentary by Robert Adanto; and Different Sames: New Perspectives in Contemporary Iranian Art, by Hossein Amirsadeghi, among others. She is based in London, UK.