Negar Farajiani mix & unmatch
..
M I A GALLERY
Cover: The Judge, 2011 Credits: Negar Farajiani
M.I.A GALLERY
Printed By Š M.I.A GALLERY 2012 Alll rights reserved, no part of this pubication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writting of the publisher December, 2012
Negar Farajiani
Sophistcated GAME
‘I got the concept of puzzle from the confusion and jumble of meanings. By moving up some pieces of puzzle the structure of an object disentangles completely and it becomes a new object.I tried to express the change of valuable old meanings and facts in a new format of image and meaning. Objects have been displaced and become new objects with new meanings’.
Sophisticated Game It seems that Negar Farajiani has constantly considered a game as a serious matter throughout her artistic records. Remember her giant ball in Factory’s Garden Project or Apt.12, No,1 installation in which all the furniture of a living house have turned into children’s toys in a park playground. This time, Negar Farajiani has used a game to express the concept of identity. The game of Mix-and-Match, regarding the intended concept of the artist and employing a pun, has transformed into a Mix-and-Unmatch game. The significance of this game and the transformation of its nature become apparent in Negar Farajiani’s works when we review our perception of the concept of identity in modern era. After that, when a gap was created in the concept of subject by Freud’s presentation or the discovery of the concept of unconscious and subsequently the subject lost its indubitable Cartesian oneness in the theories of 20th and 21th century and each time it was attacked by a new censure in a way that it is apparent identity cannot be defined or determined easily. Negar’s ingenious mind represents this puzzle in such a dissonant way. This game is endless. The image of that playful girl concealed behind the pieces of this puzzle is never revealed to us. In another interactive work by the Artist which is in a succession of her paintings, we observe that the final image of the Artist is never obtained. But the intrigued mind of the audience persistently looks for the initial images strewed in the works while watching the paintings or playing, the images, which despite being private, imply that they are from a different world. A few puppets, music playing devices and the Artist’s portraits are all mixed together in various situations. It is worth noting that Negar’s work is a valuable work of art from the viewpoint of the theory of Intersectionality according to which “all identities are lived and experienced as intersectional--in such a way that identity categories themselves are cut through and unstable--and that all subjects are intersectional whether or not they recognize themselves as such”.1 If we consider each of Negar’s works as a token of identity classifications (fragmentary and indeterminate at least for the artist), with a more subtle look to its constituents elements (the same initial images strewed in the works), it can be inferred that the Artist intends to foreground the fragmentary and incoherent nature of even the initial images by employing intelligent elements such as patchy cloths or lips with incomplete make-up. This is exactly the same fragmentation in fragmentation referred to in the theory of intersectionality. “The Accuser”, “The Attorney”, “the Executioner” or “the Witness” each have the constituent parts of each other but it is never revealed which elements belong specifically to which artwork. The Artist even reproduces the diversity and fragmentary nature of the works via writing some letters of the title of works with capital letters. Negar’s game does not have mercy even for the words. Art for her is like a game, but this collection is maybe one of the most sophisticated one designed by her so far: Mix-but-Unmatch! Alireza Labeshka, artist and curator. August 2012 -----------------------------------------------------1. Jasbir Puar, “I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess”, 2011
the trial
the wittness, 2011 archival C cardboard print size: 15 x 19.5
the attorney, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 15 x19.5
the judge, 2011 archival C cardboard print size: 15 x 19.5
The executioner, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 15 x 19.5
the accuser, 2011 archival C cardboard print size: 15 x 19.5
mid week holiday, 2011 archival C cardboard print size: 15 x 19.5
Guess Geisha, 2011 Achival C cardboard print Size: 15 x 19.5
manual, 2011 archival c cardboar print size: 15 x 19.5
Automatic, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 15 x 19.5
2012, 2011 archival C cardboard print size: 15 x 19.5
2030, 2011 Achival C cardboard print size: 15 x 19.5
iput, 2011 archival C cardboard print size: 15 x 19.5
Terminator, 2011 achival C cardboard print size; 15 x 19.5
Marilyn Monroe, 2011 Archival C cardboard print Size: 15 x 19.5
la joconde, 2011 archival C cardboard print size: 15 x 19.5
RUMI (1207-1273), Persian Poet
Oh how nameless, how free I am! When will I see myself as I really am? Tell me your secrets here and now, you said. In this realm, I said, where is the here and now? How can my soul be still when I am whirling in stillness? My sea drowned in itself. What a wondrous, shoreless sea I am! Not in this world, not in the next I am. Where I am, both worlds disappear. Naught, I am free of profit and loss. How singular, I neither gain nor lose. I said: My Soul, you’re the light of my eyes. Where I am, he said, no need for eyes. That’s what you are, I said. Stop it! he said. No words can capture me. I said: Since you are more than tongue can tell, behold how eloquent I am without a tongue. Like the moon, without legs, I race through nothingness. See how fast I can run without legs! A voice called: Why so fast? Look into the hidden, find my true face. The moment I saw Shams of Tabriz I became a treasure, a gem, the rare pearl of the sea.
puzzle
Part Two
luna park, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 23 x 23
burqa, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 23 x 23
shiraz wine, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 23 x 23
save the persian soldier, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 23 x 23
a
vote right, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 23 x 23
destiney of jumping-jacks, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 23 x 23
sister I, 2011 archival C cardboard print size: 23 x 23
sister II, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 23 x 23
Alien, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 23 x 23
20/beast, 2011 archival C cardboard print size: 23 x 23
cinderella, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 23 x 23
happy new year, 2011 archival c cardboard print size: 23 x 23
Negar Farajiani 09/03/1977 Yazd - Iran Solo Exhibitions 2012 Sazmanab Project, UNDO, Tehran, Iran 2011 Etemad Art Gallery, Installation exhibition, Tehran, Iran 2007 Assar Art Gallery, Painting Exhibition, Tehran, Iran 2004 Assar Art Gallery, Painting Exhibition, Tehran, Iran 2002 Assar Art Gallery, Painting Exhibition, Tehran, Iran Group Exhibitions 2012 Parkingallery, On(photo) paper; without a name, Tehran, Iran 2011 Parkingallery, On paper; Without a name, Tehran, Iran 2011 The invisible present video Program at Oi Futuro, Rio, Brazil 2011 Public art, The second Contemporary art Exhibition, Sanandaj, Iran 2011 Mohsen Art Gallery, a report and an exhibition of factory’s Garden, Tehran, Iran 2011 Manzoumeh Kherad Institute, Tehran Monoxide Project, Tehran, Iran 2011 Etemad Art Gallery, 13 x 18 ,Tehran, Iran 2011 Site-Specific Installation, Factory’s Garden, Yazd, Iran 2010 Exhibition for Charity (Khaneh Khorshid), Tehran, Iran 2009 Iranian Arts Forum, Painting Exhibition, Tehran, Iran 2008 Dar-ol-Fonoon Gallery, Painting Exhibition for Charity, Kuwait 2007 Art Space Gallery, New Trend of Iranian Painting, Collected Memories, London, UK 2007 Iran Heritage, an Exhibition of Contemporary of Iranian Arts, London, UK 2007 Assar Art Gallery, Painting Exhibition, Tehran, Iran 2007 Iranian Arts Forum, Painting Exhibition, Tehran, Iran 2007 Baran Art Gallery, Painting Exhibition, Tehran, Iran 2006 Assar Art Gallery, Painting Exhibition, Tehran, Iran 2005 China Expo, Beijing, China 2005 Assar Art Gallery, Painting Exhibition, Tehran, Iran 2004 Assar Art Gallery, Painting Exhibition, Tehran, Iran 2000 Museum of Contemporary of Art, Self-Promotional Posters Exhibition, Tehran, Iran 1999 Children Book Illustration, Noma, Japan 1999 Museum of Contemporary of Art, Children Book Illustration Exhibition, Tehran, Iran 1995 Fine Art School, Painting Exhibition, Yazd, Iran
1203 A Second Avenue Seattle, WA 98101 T:206-467-4927 F:206-832-3727 www.m-i-a-gallery.com
www.m-i-a-gallery.com