Ardeshir Tabrizi: King of Light: AF Projects, Los Angeles
This new body of work truly signifies a breakthrough moment in the arc of the artist’s career. His new show includes the use of new materials to complement his signature language composed of textile, silk-screening, intricately layered collaged embroidery to now include mosaic mirror on canvas. This new medium signals the act of reflection on the part of the viewer, physically, metaphysically, and psycho-socially. At this time of cultural chaos, trauma and division, the artist takes traditional forms, techniques and iconography and transports them into the present, or a prospective future of balance, reflection, peace and unity.
Symmetry is key to Tabrizi’s new compositions. It conjures the notion of binary positionality and a temperament of peaceful polarization. This work comes on the heels of the artist’s time at Black Rock residency in Senegal. The exciting experimentation of the work stems from the dynamic layering and juxtaposition of embroidery with cut glass silkscreen, hot wax seals and more.
“This work is about history. Our place in history. What is missing from the piece? The individual, the viewer. With this body of work I started adding mirrors and glass, reflecting the environment. When I was in Africa I was thinking of this idea, how can I bring the now into the work, how we are feeling as people, as a culture. This work deals with historical images, in the collective conscious. The outside world is directly reflected into the work and vice versa. Because of the topography of the canvas, the weight of the materials, it pulls light from all different directions, creating broken abstract images that change from environment to environment. This is an act of reflecting what is existing into the work. Beyond the philosophical and visual, this exercise has a cultural and historical context. I was thinking of a mosque in Iran - the mosque of light. These mirrored mosaics were a part of my consciousness - its sheer power, meaning and beauty. This new work breaks from the early work in no uncertain terms in that the material is always the breakthrough. It is the language. It is a simple way of telling a story in the world. Videos are now present in the work as well, holograms, energy balls. It is a direction I’m being pulled in. This is where I want to go. It’s dynamic, not stagnant. The work deals with history at the forefront as it also confronts the individual. A narrative is present between you and the past - between you and the environment. Different parts of human history are conjured to create a new cultural conversation. I’m thinking about, in an overarching fashion, what it means to look back on collective history. It deals with the human figure, I think due to my father’s health at this moment, death and time, and the limited time we have, our eventual decay has always been part of the work. This moment in our family has kicked it into the forefront I think as to why the human body is more prominent at this time. I took Da Vinci’s Vetruvian man, cut it, sliced it, and inside the silhouette are silkscreens of different histories from Christian to Middle Eastern. The figures look the same, but their interiors are different." - ARDESHIR TABRIZI
ABOUT ARDESHIR TABRIZI
ARDESHIR TABRIZI (B.1981, TEHRAN, IRAN) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Tabrizi’s hand embroidered textile pieces and multi-layered narratives use thread and ink to address the intersection of cultural renewal and historical understanding of heritage in contemporary society. He draws from his background to create works that have a global resonance, transcending immediate cultural references and context. His artworks are in numerous institutional collections such as the Fowler Museum at UCLA (Los Angeles), Long Beach Museum of Art (Long Beach), The Bunker Artspace (West Palm Beach), Espacio Tacuari (Buenos Aires) and Kehinde Wiley's Black Rock residency in Senegal in 2024.
The exhibition, King of Light will open 3-6 pm on September 7 until October 31. AF Projects 7503 Sunset Boulevard Los Angeles California @afprojectsla
Contact JB Bogulski T.213.479.2610 jb@afprojects.com
