ALA EBTEKAR under every deep a lower deep opens
ALA EBTEKAR UNDER EVERY DEEP A LOWER DEEP OPENS Gallery 16 Editions is pleased to announce the release of two new original prints with artist Ala Ebtekar, Under Every Deep A Lower Deep Opens. Ebtekar is known for his work in painting, drawing, and installation. His work explores the juncture between history and myth melding together Persian mythology, science, philosophy, and pop culture. Ebtekar’s parents emigrated to the United States from Iran in the 1970s amidst the Iran-Iraq War. The artist was born in California while his parents were doing graduate studies at UC Berkeley. He later lived and traveled in Iran, learning traditional painting in the coffee houses and meeting young graffiti artists in Tehran. In 2014, Gallery 16 Editions invited Ala to create two distinct but interconnected print editions. The concept was to use two books important to Ebtekar’s work as the foundation for each edition – not only as a conceptual foundation or conceit, but as the literal physical support for each print. The two books are the Divan-e-Hafez, Persian poet Hafez’s revered collection of works, first published in 1680 and Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Riverside Edition, published in 1889 by George Routledge and Sons, London. Each print of Under Every Deep A Lower Deep Opens is produced upon the actual pages of these books. The disassembled pages were adhered to support sheets of Rives BFK. Ebtekar then created an ornate, windowed Persian lattice which is printed over the actual book pages. Each complete edition is the entire disassembled book. The Hafez book yielded a total of ten 41.5 x 29.5 inch prints. The Emerson book yielded a total of eleven 41.5 x 28.5 inch prints. The title of the two print editions, Under Every Deep A Lower Deep Opens is taken from the line in Emerson’s Circles Essay written in 1841, “Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth, that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on mid-noon, and under every deep a lower deep opens.” Emerson understands creativity in an individual as part of a continuous, universal flow. Ebtekar connects these two literary figures who explore similar concepts of Transcendentalism, philosophy, creativity, and nature. Although their work is separated by over 400 years, overlapping notions in their writing inspire Ebtekar. For Emerson, Hafez became an ideal poet whom he called a ‘poet for poets’. He spent fourteen years reading the poetry of Hafez and translated Hafez’s ghazals from German into English. In the Persian-speaking world, Hafez is regarded as an extraordinary poet whose verses are infused with mystical love and philosophical depth and also as a seer, who was divinely inspired. For centuries many have consulted the words of Hafez for guidance on a range of subjects. Holding the Divan-e-Hafez, they close their eyes, make a wish, randomly turn to a page, open their eyes, and recite the poem as a way to receive existential guidance and moral inspiration.
In this spirit, Ebtekar embraces the notion of chance in the making of this suite of prints. He created an ornate pattern with a center opening resembling a window in an Esfahni-style palace. This opening reveals a random passage from Hafez or Emerson, emulating this Persian tradition and reinforcing the importance of chance. Ala writes, “We can’t predict where the window of the image falls to illuminate or frame the text. Text and meaning is organized by the viewer. This union has to happen because of the randomness of the universe.”
Come, let us split apart the domed ceiling of the celestial spheres, and let us lay the foundation of a new structure. —Hafez In the uttermost meaning of the words, thought is devout, and devotion is thought. Deep calls unto deep. —Emerson The Divān Hafez, originally published 1680
Curator Kevin B. Chen wrote “In the series of prints on pages of the Divan-e-Hafez, Ebtekar visualizes the emotional and spiritual manifestation of reading Hafez, a time of suspended reality where poetic illumination is possible, imaginative variations on the present are infinite, and the portal to the cosmos is literally embedded within Hafez’s verses. Ebtekar not only conjures up representations of the transcendent ineffable, but also suggests a world where an expanded frame of reference can lay the foundation for realities alternative to what currently exists.” David Michael Hertz writes, Emerson explains how an artist must use works of the past as if the were organic raw material. Works of the past exist to serve the present: “The Past is for us; but the sole terms on which it can become ours are its subordination to the Present.” It is in this spirit that Ebtekar utilizes the pages of these manuscripts as a basis for his work. In doing so he creates a kind of vertically layered complexity. Ebtekar uses the books as content and as a regulating system for the print edition itself. In fine art printmaking the “limited” nature of the edition is often a question governed by how many prints a publisher believes they can sell. In other cases, the quantity of prints made is a function of how many impressions a given printing plate can withstand. In Under Every Deep A Lower Deep Opens, the edition is limited by the quantity of pages in each book.
Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Riverside Edition, published in 1869 by George Routledge and Sons, London
Under Every Deep A Lower Deep Opens (Hafez) 2015 Pigment print on book pages over 270 gsm Rives BFK white 41.5� x 29.5� Edition of 10 signed and numbered $4,000
Under Every Deep A Lower Deep Opens (Emerson) 2015 Pigment print on book pages over 270 gsm Rives BFK white 41.5� x 28.5� Edition of 11 signed and numbered $4,000
Gallery 16 was founded by artist Griff Williams in 1994. Since then, Gallery 16 and its fine art imprint Gallery 16 Editions has produced exhibitions with over 250 artists and published over 800 prints, artist books, and multiples with artists including Michelle Grabner, Ari Marcopoulos, Jim Goldberg, Colter Jacobsen, Bill Berkson, Harrell Fletcher, Lynn Hershman, Amy Franceschini, William Kentridge, Tucker Nichols, Libby Black, Deborah Oropallo, Jim Isermann, Graham Gillmore, Mark Grotjahn, Rebeca Bollinger, Rex Ray, and Margaret Kilgallen.
Ala Ebtekar’s editions are available through Gallery 16 Gallery 16 is located at 501 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 Inquiries may contact Griff Williams at 415-626-7495 All images Š Ala Ebtekar/Gallery 16 gallery16.com