The latest collection of paintings, titled ‘Painless’ by artist Pooneh Oshidari was on view at Tehran’s Homa Art Gallery.
A follow up of her earlier collection with a similar theme, the series portrayed giant monstrous plants against an abstract background, Honaronline quoted Oshidari as saying.
“The artworks are created in a contemporary and modern setting compared to the earlier exhibits and are more illusory and inexplicit with strong focus on inner impressions,” said the artist.
On the other hand, although the paintings are clearly deformed plants, they could be considered as completely abstract because in some of the items, they are more like “beast-like creatures, hiding something (good or evil) within.”
Oshidari said: “There is a concept within the deeper layers of the plants that is ambiguous in a way that one can’t describe.”
Describing her works as figurative paintings, she said “the forms make her style close to expressive art. The plants are from somewhere outside time and place, disconnected from any sort of ground. That is why they are something beyond ordinary plants.”
The gallery was also host to an installation by the artist, which is comprised of 12 boxes. “Days before the opening, I filled up the boxes with wheat, leaving a small part empty. Then I placed little dolls in the empty space. After watering and maintenance, the wheat grew and surrounded the dolls akin to the plants in the paintings.”
Oshidari explained what she means in a note on the exhibition. “When everything may appear to be fine, a terrific thing might silently and stealthily be happening, growing invisibly. Danger comes without alarm. The pain might envelope you so slowly that even you can’t feel it. The thing you believe doesn’t exist might be hiding somewhere.”
Oshidari, 32, who has a master’s degree in illustration from Tehran University, has participated in several solo and group exhibitions in Tehran and abroad.
The exhibition concluded on June 7.
