Shirin Gallery NY will display ‘Sonatas and Partitas’, a solo exhibition featuring the work of Iranian artist Mahmoud Hamadani, opening Thursday, (Feb 26).
For the first time in New York, Hamadani will present works from all four series of drawings: Requiem, Traces, Endless Roads, and Odes. His works contemplate basic dualities, such as light and shadow; order and chaos. The drawings also explore ideas of chance, accident, and repetition, through complex patterns and structures, says an email from the gallery’s Tehran branch.
In ‘Requiem’, Hamadani draws rhythmic patterns – of grids, lines, or dots – each restrained by a simple structure. The drawings evoke the dynamics of complex systems, such as a city, or a beehive. “Look closely at each drawing and you will see a myriad of haphazard elements,” he explains. “Step back and a resolved serenity appears.”
The process of making the drawings in ‘Endless Roads’ is akin to a “search for that which cannot be found” (Rumi). The image that appears comes from that process, the merging of decisions and accidents. Hamadani describes the work as “beautiful accidents.”
Chance and Will
‘Traces’, another series of his recent work, is made through a process by which he blows ink in various directions across paper. The process itself “is an investigation of chance and will.”
‘Odes’ is a study of light and shadow, a common preoccupation of the moral being. Exploration of lightness and darkness is also a concept that often consumes artists. Hamadani considers this duality through an unforgiving process that provides no room for error. The drawings in this series are composed of repeated, carefully drawn straight lines.
Mahmoud Hamadani’s work is in the permanent collection at the British Museum, London. He has exhibited his work at different museums in London and New York.
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.
