Of Possibilities and Realities

With his fold-forming sculptures and installation arts, interior designer and jeweler Amir Nassiri has presented a unique reading of how the universe came into being and its path of evolution.

‘Insistence’ is the name of his exhibition as he believes it is through insistence that a possibility becomes reality from among an indefinite number of other chances.

The exhibit at Hepta Gallery in Tehran is sort of an abstract revelation on genesis of cosmos. Nassiri has laid out his works in a special order to enable visitors travel from the beginning of the world he perceives is full of chaotic darkness to the moment when humans arrived and brought along a plethora of accessories, ornaments and jewelries.

According to the artist, in the beginning there was a timeless darkness. He has depicted the concept with a number of hung black cardboards folded several times into myriads of triangles.

“All these dark triangles represent endless possibilities awaiting realization,” Nassiri told Financial Tribune on January 25, the opening day of his show.

The next part of the exhibit after timeless darkness is big bang. It is the largest installation art at the show - a mandala of glittering copper sheets, spread out in four cardinal directions. The sheets shimmer with ripples of variant colors emanating from heat treating. This is how Nassiri depicts a primordial explosion of the universe in four directions.

The big bang is followed by “a vast arena of possibilities.” Among the artworks representing the idea, a chessboard draws attention. The board is checkered in red and black. The pawns on the board are silver-gilt on one side and burnt copper on the other. Like the rest of the works, the pawns are created with fold-forming. The copper sheets were folded, heated and unfolded repeatedly until they became the intended 3D objects.

Above the board, a number of semi-organic forms are fixed on the wall. “They represent the first sentient creations coming into being when the world was still young,” Nassiri said. On the next wall, he has created a scene in which micro-organisms reproduce and multiply.

And this was the prelude to the scene where humans appear. To a series of plaster casts, which are fine pieces of art per se, the artist has added bracelets, pectorals and rings created with fold-forming. This section of the exhibit is about what the artist does when he is not working on interior design. Nassiri is a jeweler who makes each piece or trinket only once. All his products would thus become unique.  

None of the works carries a price tag and the question was raised whether the exhibit has any financial purpose. Nassiri said some of his works are already sold, including the ‘big bang’ piece, as well as the ornaments and the plaster casts on which they are mounted.  

“To me, such interaction with metal, whereby I give it a new form, means insistence. I try to find the latent capacities and aesthetics of metal when I forge it,” Nassiri said. “In the arrangements of the works I seek to find hidden geometrical patterns.”

‘Insistence’ will run through February 7. Hepta Gallery is located at Nikushahr Dead-end, Iranshahr Street, west of Artists (Honarmandan) Park.