New YorkPersian Color

AFSOON, SAMIRA ABBASSY, ARTEMIS AKCHOTI SHAHBAZI, NIMA BEHNOUD, FIROUZ FARMAN-FARMAIAN, AREZOO MOSENI, ARMITA RAAFAT, MOE SHAHHEIDARI, ANAHITA VOSSOUGHI

Curated by Bill Carroll

Opening Reception: Thursday, January 7, 6 – 8pm

Shirin Gallery NY presents Persian Color, a group exhibition curated by Bill Carroll, Program Director of the Studio Program at the Elizabeth Foundation of the Arts. The exhibition features works by nine Iranian artists, each using color as a way to reflect on individual and cultural experience.

“I have had the great pleasure to meet, and work with, a number of highly talented Iranian artists. These artists are creating a wide variety of compelling work. Invited by Shirin Gallery to curate a show, I immediately knew that I wanted to focus on these artists. I arrived at a theme by thinking of my earliest encounters with classical Persian art and my overwhelming visceral response to it. I love the complex narrative of Persian miniatures, the abstract patterns of the tiles, and the graceful and exotic forms of the architecture. But most of all I am always struck by the uniquely beautiful and sensual color. The nine Iranian artists chosen for Persian Color make works that, in one way or another, are in dialogue with the extraordinary visual pleasures, and colors, of their Persian heritage.”

– Bill Carroll

AFSOON   As a collage artist, colors play a big part in connecting and blending different images and shapes together in order for me to be able to tell my stories.

SAMIRA ABBASSY   For the ‘Persian Color’ show, the most prominent color that came to mind was that specific green associated with the Imam Hussain. More recently (in 2009), it was used as the color of the Iranian Green Revolution.

ARTEMIS AKCHOTI SHAHBAZI   I have a need to investigate Iran – its people, its culture, its history – but mostly I have been longing for its colors…

NIMA BEHNOUD   The ‘Sky Allure’ aims to portray the mysterious fascination and attraction of Blue in Persian art. The paradox is of Blue being referred to as the purification and mystic color, and also referred to as the eye color of the evil in Persian literature.

FIROUZ FARMAN-FARMAIAN   ‘Tehran Lovers’ (Panel #4 ) is part of a 6 piece body of work proposing my approach to the status of Iran’s youth in the light of post-nuclear deal expectations.

AREZOO MOSENI   ‘Leaps, #2 is a study for a much larger piece relating to the geometric articulation of energetic relationships and the human desire to do the impossible.

ARMITA RAAFAT   While inspired by architectonic motifs, a tension is formed with the juxtaposition of traditional and modern elements, the past and the present, as the structures appear frozen in moments of crumbling and falling apart.

MOE SHAHHEIDARI   Connecting the historic and contemporary nuances of Persia through lines inspired by hip-hop culture.

ANAHITA VOSSOUGHI   The body, and our very human desire to adorn, identify, display and categorize ourselves, influence this piece and my work in general.

BILL CARROLL   has been involved in the New York Art World for over 30 years. Besides curating, he is presently the Director of the EFA Studio Program, an exhibiting artist, and teaches at Pratt Institute.