 |
TRILOGY
From April 3 until May 17, 2009
|
 |
|
Between April 3rd and May 17th 2009, MEKIC Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition titled Trilogy. The exhibition assembles 7 paintings by Mohsen Vaziri Moghadam, 17 drawings by Mahmoud Meraji and 10 photographs by Pooyan Tabatabaei. It consists in a first greatly interesting overview of the artists’ rich and diversified methods. Inspired by various sources, the three artists of Iranian origin gather together to reveal their take on the contemporary world. We are thus entering an extraordinary and little known sphere, which one cannot grasp easily. The journey amounts to a time spent in reflection and interaction, which is both surprising and intriguing.
The three parts that make up the exhibition cause Trilogy to be a meeting point between three artistic glances. First to be seen are masterpieces by the father of Iranian modern art, Mohsen Vaziri Moghadam. The works are cautiously elaborated and were painted between 1961 and 1963, at the beginning of the artist’s abstract period. The strokes are vertical and horizontal. One can almost see the hand that brushed them. Then, the colours used are meant to balance the surface while inviting the viewer to make out a symbolic sense of the shapes and colours. The colours really allow us to take in the artwork. The blue, black and yellow colours are those of the night, the earth and the sun. Therefore, even if something escapes us at first, the paintings remain attractive because of what we already know on abstract art and because of what never ceases to remain out of reach in this artform –deep and unfathomable and always getting more so.
The drawing series by Mohamoud Meraji forms the second part of the exhibition and are presented for the first time in Canada. The pastel colour shades and the shapes make the drawings come to life. The viewer enters a myriad of microcosms from which spring short but unusual stories. The drawings transcend reality by being more than descriptive. By doing away with aspects related to reality, but without eliminating all concerns with real life, the artist places himself at the border of the figurative and the abstract and goes beyond the simple matching of colours and shapes. The artist is in fact pushing the viewer to imagine what lies behind what is visible. He tries to depict the interior universe found in the drawing, which is not obvious to the naked eye. This is in accordance with Georges Braque’s view that "Writing is not describing, and painting, is not depicting". Therefore the goal is not the figurative. Notwithstanding the little format of the drawings, they still overpower us by their plastic freedom and apparent fragility.
In the third part of the exhibition, the viewer discovers ten photographs by Pooyan Tabatabaei, a young photographer who is presenting two series of photographs. The first one is titled White on White and offers to revisit the Canadian winter landscapes in order to explore the high camouflage properties of the colour white. On these pictures, the line of the horizon becomes unclear. It is clinging on solitary trees and thus losing its continuity while at the same merging with the immaculate whiteness of the sky and the earth. One is carried beyond those dissipated lines. Such is the goal of the artist who builds a visual journey that invites contemplation and interaction with a stripped and still image that seeks to conceal everything. Going beyond what is easily identifiable, one lives for 30 seconds an unexpected revelation.
The second series is titled Journey to my imagination. Its two photographs bring a new dimension to the artistic work of the photographer. Here, the artist is not concealing anything. On the contrary, he seeks to disrupt the snowy landscape by adding to it foreign elements. This reminds us of Julie Oakas thought that "Between black and white, positive and negative, plus and minus, a divine equilibrium exists. Equilibrium is beauty. The equation is perfect. Tabatabaei has stopped time’s vagueness and registered the symmetry between man/woman and earth, between the figure and the ground, and between the question and the answer."
Trilogy is the meeting place between three generations of artists, three techniques, three life paths, three different takes, three friends, three imaginary worlds, three men who express through their art and in their own ways their ideas and visions of the world. And all this is done for the greatest pleasure of the viewer.
Mohsen Vaziri Moghadam was born on May 26, 1924, in Tehran. In 1946, he received a Diploma of Fine Arts Academy from Tehran University and, in 1958, a Diploma of the Accademia di Belle Arti from Rome . Between 1955 and 1964 he lived and worked in Rome. In 1964 Mohsen Vaziri Moghadam returned to Tehran and worked until 1974 as a professor of Art at the Faculty of Decorative Arts and Faculty of Fine Arts of Tehran University. In 1985 he and his family moved from Iran to Rome, Italy. A true international artist, he exhibits regularly in Europe, Asia and America. He has received several prestigious awards highlighting the quality of his work. Mohsen Vaziri Moghadam is considered to be the father of modern Iranian painting.
Born in Tehran in 1958, Mahmoud Meraji has been exploring the universe of arts since his childhood. In 1976, Meraji formed his own studio where, between periods of teaching his students, he began to experiment more freely. He also began his search for a vision and style that would reflect his inner self and his feelings about the increasingly turbulent world around him. Meraji held his first solo exhibition in Tehran in 1982, and his reputation in Iran grew rapidly from this moment on. In 1997, he moved to Toronto with his family. He has had numerous exhibitions in Toronto and has also received several prizes for his art.
As a photojournalist, reporter, and cameraman, Pooyan Tabatabaie's work has been featured in Spigel ( Germany ), BBC (UK), The Guardian ( UK ), Shahrvand ( Canada ), Shargh Newspaper ( Iran ), and Fars News (Iran ). He has received several international nominations and awards for his work including his latest series Hijab, where he combines Eastern elements with Western landscapes. In reflecting the true image of his subjects, his photographs aim to capture the essence of the person in a way that he hopes will impact the lives of the people who view them as much as the subjects that impacted him. This is deeply rooted in his view of photography: “Seeing the world through my lens is a liberating experience for me that helps me catalogue any reality and share my experiences with others."
Opening Hours:
Tue-Friday 11am - 7pm
Sat & Sun: 12pm - 6pm
