I SLEPT WITH THE LIGHT AND BECAME PREGNANT WITH LOVE
ANGELA LARIAN
February 4 – March 1, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 4, 6 - 8pm
New York, NY
Shirin Gallery NY is pleased to present I Slept with the Light and Became Pregnant with Love, a solo exhibition featuring the work of Angela Larian. Larian works with various mediums, predominantly large-scale and abstract. I Slept with the Light and Became Pregnant with Love exhibits her recent works with neon, metal, and video.
As Linda Komaroff, Curator and Department Head of Art of the Middle East at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, states in the exhibition catalogue: “Mysticism, spiritualism, minimalism, conceptualism, historicism, philosophical aphorisms, and a certain amount of self-referentialism, are all threaded throughout Angela Larian's art. In combination, these help to activate and energize the familiar, creating something fresh that pulls us between the realm of the seen and the unseen. But what especially attracts me to her work is her use of Persian texts, at times transformed into disentangled words, and her sleek geometrical grids, which often merge with writing."
Larian’s works are a representation of an inner dialogue; each piece serves as a vessel through which ideas are manifested. She endeavors to create a space for viewers that will allow them to reflect inwardly, and to transcend limits of physical vision. Her recent works focus on the paradigm of God and the divine within our modern culture. For this, she draws inspiration from ancient Avestan, the language of Zoroastrian scripture, and the word “Khoda,” which means not only God, but also literally the self (Khod), who has risen.
“Metaphor is the language of our unconscious. It is a suspension of the conscious mind that releases our subconscious imagination, a coded way of understanding the world. My art finds its language through metaphor, mysticism, poetry and philosophy,” states Larian.
Angela Larian, born in Tehran, Iran, moved to the United States in 1978, at the age of 15. Her extensive oeuvre of work showcases iconic visual language and multidimensional pieces, through various mediums including bronze, concrete, metal, video, neon, print, and found objects. Her large bronze and iron sculptures are included in a number of private collections.
She is based on Los Angeles, California.
Shirin Gallery NY is a contemporary art gallery and platform for curatorial and educational activities that seek to foster international cultural exchange. Originally established in Tehran in 2005, the gallery opened a New York space in 2013 in Chelsea’s gallery district. The New York space furthers Shirin Gallery’s commitment to exhibiting works that push the boundaries of contemporary art, as well as international perceptions of the Middle East.