With so much news coverage speculating on whether or not the country is attempting to detonate something radioactive, it’s not surprising that Iran’s rich culture is often overshadowed by its politics. Thankfully, Montrealers have an opportunity to explore the latter rather than the former, with MEKIC’s new Trilogy painting and photography exhibition.
A combination bookstore and art gallery, MEKIC spotlights South West Asian artists, and is presently showcasing works by Tehran natives Mohsen Vaziri Moghadam, Mahmoud Meraji and Pooyan Tabatabaei until May 17th.
Born in 1924, Mohsen Vaziri Moghadam currently resides in Rome. Over the years, his paintings have run the gamut from figurative portraiture to abstract work, the latter phase being represented here. A mix of calligraphy and stark, bold geometry, the half-dozen large paintings exhibited at MEKIC evoke a strange sense of incomprehensibility, like staring at the hieroglyphs of an alien language.
Describing himself in the exhibition’s program as a “painter who doesn’t like paintings,” there’s a certain darkness to Moghadam’s work, perhaps attributable to his dedication to black paint. The confident brush strokes are only subtly highlighted in blood reds or dark blues, sometimes creating a sense of depth, but mainly re-enforcing the beautiful chaos. Occasionally, a recognizable geometric pattern counterpoints the abstract, as in one piece that reproduces itself with Warhol-esque duplication,
Mahmoud Meraji’s paintings, on the other hand, have a more delicate touch. Based in Toronto, the artist also works in portrait, but the paintings shown here are postcard-sized meditations on the fantastic. The light pastels and soft lines portray human and animal figures cloaked in symbolism and a haze of blurred colour, as if viewing the past through the fog of myth, legend, and a tall glass of particularly potent absinthe. There’s an abstract nature to the imagery, an exaggeration to the form that lends the work a dreamy feel, as do the soothing pinks, aquamarine, and sea-green shades of the pastels. These are the pleasant dreams of Aesop’s Fables and cotton candy: warm, sweet, and charming.
The final leg of MEKIC’s trilogy, however, is much less abstract. Pooyan Tabatabaei brings a clear, clinical lens to his subjects. His imagery — a flight of birds, a chandor-clad woman — is set against snowy backgrounds of pure white. The result is a clarity that is often disorienting, with a seemingly infinite field of vision focusing on single, simple elements. The handful of images on display have the cold, sharp beauty of a diamond, with all the brilliance that implies.
The exhibition also includes a documentary, featuring further works by the artists and critical commentary.
The Trilogy exhibition runs until May 17th. MEKIC is located at 4438, rue de la Roche, and exhibition hours are Tue-Friday: 11am – 7pm, Sat & Sun: 12pm – 6pm. For more information, visit www.mekic.ca , or call (514) 373-5777.
