Ahmad Aali’s Self-Portraits at Emkan Gallery

Veteran painter and photographer Ahmad Aali, 81, reviews 50 years of his artistic career in an exhibition titled ‘Self-portraits of Ahmad Aali with G11’.

Aali’s latest solo photo exhibit opened on Friday December 2 at Tehran’s Emkan gallery, located at No. 77, Aqa Mohammadi Alley, 7-Tir Square. The event will run through December 19, from 3pm to 8 pm daily.

The exhibition features 14 photographs and one painting created by the photo master.

“A review of Ahmad Aali’s works with his G11 camera in the last 50 years shows us his emphasis on aesthetics and obsessive precision in visual representation,” wrote photographer, essayist and visual art critic Mehrdad Najmabadi in an introduction to the exhibit, the website galleryinfo.ir reported.

“The featured works are part of his search for lost time and memories, of himself and his beloved things. The impressive theme and the words and signs used in his works, are ironic and paradoxical.” 

The one and only painting at the exhibit is of a chair, “a reminder of his previous approach to photography.” 

The subjects of his photographs, together with the words and signs repeated frequently on the photographed boxes and parcels, have transformed the current collection “into a humble autobiography indicating his active presence in Iran’s art,” Najmabadi said.

Aali’s previous solo exhibitions in Tehran were held at Farhang hall in 1963, Iran Hall, also known as Qandriz Gallery in 1965, the galleries of Borges and Seyhoun in 1968, Barg Gallery in 1997, Aria Art Gallery in 2008 and Mah-e Mehr Gallery in 2010.