Parastou Forouhar: "Art, Life and Death in Iran", Leighton House, 1 October - 6 November 2010

PARASTOU FOROUHAR ART, LIFE & DEATH IN IRAN

ROSE ISSA PROJECTS AT LEIGHTON HOUSE MUSEUM

PARASTOU FOROUHAR ART, LIFE & DEATH IN IRAN

LEIGHTON HOUSE MUSEUM, 1 OCTOBER – 6 NOVEMBER 2010 PRIVATE VIEW: FRIDAY 1 OCTOBER, 6-8.30 PM MEET THE ARTIST: 2 OCTOBER, 3-4 PM PRESENTED BY ROSE ISSA PROJECTS, PARASTOU FOROUHAR EXHIBITS “THE FUNERAL”– AN INSTALLATION OF OFFICE CHAIRS COVERED IN A POPULAR FOLK MATERIAL SOLD IN TEHRAN’S MARKETS FOR ASHURA, THE ANNUAL SHI’ITE CEREMONY THAT MOURNS THE MARTYRDOM OF IMAM HOSSEIN IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. ORIGINALLY THESE PRINTED SHROUDS CAME IN SYMBOLIC COLOURS – BLACK AND WHITE, RED AND GREEN – BUT TODAY THEY ARE PRINTED IN DAY-GLO COLOURS FOR AN INTERESTING BLEND OF RELIGION WITH POP CULTURE. STANDING EMPTY IN A ROOM, THEY COMMEMORATE THE DECEASED VICTIMS WHO ONCE SAT IN THEM. ALSO ON DISPLAY ARE “SIGNS” – A SERIES THAT PLAYS ON THE IMAGERY OF ROAD AND TRAFFIC SIGNS TO EXPRESS THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES IN IRAN (FOR WOMEN, THERE IS “NO ENTRY” AND “ACCESS DENIED”, WHILE MEN ENJOY “RIGHT OF WAY”) AND “ESLIMI” (“ORNAMENTS”) – A FABRIC PATTERN-BOOK OF DECEPTIVE CHARM. LOOK CLOSER AND WE SEE THE PATTERNS ARE COMPOSED OF INTRICATELY RENDERED INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE, SUCH AS KNIVES, WHIPS, KNUCKLEDUSTERS AND PISTOLS. PHOTOGRAPHER, INSTALLATION AND MULTI-MEDIA ARTIST PARASTOU FOROUHAR WAS BORN IN 1962 IN TEHRAN, AND SINCE 1991 HAS LIVED AND WORKED IN GERMANY. HER WORK IS A RESPONSE TO THE DRAMATIC SOCIAL CHANGES THAT SHE EXPERIENCED AFTER THE 1979 IRANIAN REVOLUTION. WHILE EARLY PROJECTS EXPLORED THEMES OF DISPLACEMENT AND IDENTITY, A GREAT AND TERRIBLE INFLUENCE ON HER RECENT WORK WAS THE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED MURDER OF HER PARENTS IN IRAN IN NOVEMBER 1998. HER PARENTS WERE INTELLECTUAL ACTIVISTS, AND LIKE THEM FOROUHAR IS CRITICAL OF RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL FUNDAMENTALISM THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. HER BELIEF IN FREE SOCIETY IS EXPRESSED IN IMAGERY THAT IS SURPRISINGLY WITTY, OFTEN HUMOROUSLY MACABRE AND ALWAYS HIGHLY ORIGINAL. THIS EXHIBITION ALSO CELEBRATES THE PUBLICATION OF “PARASTOU FOROUHAR: ART, LIFE & DEATH IN IRAN”, EDITED BY ROSE ISSA (SAQI BOOKS)

LEIGHTON HOUSE MUSEUM 12 HOLLAND PARK ROAD LONDON W14 8LZ T: 020 7602 3316 OPEN DAILY, 10AM – 5.30PM (CLOSED TUESDAYS) PRESENTED BY ROSE ISSA PROJECTS 269 KENSINGTON HIGH STREET LONDON W8 6NA T: 020 7602 7700 E: INFO@ROSEISSA.COM WWW.ROSEISSA.COM CONTEMPORARY ART FROM THE ARAB WORLD AND IRAN

Cover image: The Funeral, installation of office chairs and fabric (2006)

Genitals, from the Eslimi series, digital prints on fabric, all 594cm x 420cm (2003-2010)

Guns, from the Eslimi series, digital prints on fabric, all 594cm x 420cm (2003-2010)

Red is my Name, Green is my Name II, series of 4 digital drawings, digital print on Photo Rag, all 50cm x 50cm (2009)

Signs, series of laminated digital drawings on aluminium, 40cm diameter (2004-2010)

Flag Collection – Knives, digital print on Photo Rag, 100cm x 70cm (2010)

Flag Collection – Revolvers, digital print on Photo Rag, 100cm x 70cm (2010)

BIOGRAPHY Photographer, installation and multi-media artist Parastou Forouhar was born in 1962 in Tehran, and since 1991 has lived and worked in Germany. She graduated in 1990 with a BA in Art from the University of Tehran, and with an MA from the Hochschule für Gestaltung, Offenbach am Main, Germany in 1994.

Selected recent solo shows include “Iran diVerso: Black or White?”, Verso Arte Contemporanea, Turin (2010); “Krieg/Individuum” (“War/Person”), Ausstellungshalle zeitgenössische Kunst Münster (2010); “Veiled Memoirs”, XIV Biennale Donna, Ferrara (2010); “Parastou Forouhar”, Karin Sachs Gallery, Munich (2009); “Links of Violence”, Orgel Fabrik, Karlsruhe (2009); “Parade”, Kunsthalle Vierseithof, Lückenwalde (2008); “Just A Minute”, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Rome (2007); “Spielmannszüge”, Forum of the Dominican Monastery, Frankfurt (2007); “Parastou Forouhar”, Deutscher Dom, Berlin (2005); “1001 days”, the National Gallery Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, (2003); and “Blind Spot”, Exhibition Hall Schulstrasse 1A, Frankfurt/M and Stavanger Cultural Centre, Norway (2001-2).

Selected recent group shows include “Die Macht Des Ornaments”, Belvedere, Vienna, Austria (2009); “Traum und Wirklichkeit”, travelling show: Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland and BM Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul (2009); “Rebelle”, Museum of Modern Art, Arnhem, The Netherlands (2009); “Taswir: Pictorial Mappings of Islam and Modernity”, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin (2009); Incheon Women Artists’ Biennale, South Korea (2009); “Iran Inside Out”, Chelsea Art Museum, New York (2009); “Mahrem”, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna and Santralistanbul, Turkey; “Re-Imagining Asia”, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2008); “Global Feminisms”, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2007); “Intersections”, Jewish Museum of Melbourne and Jewish Museum San Francisco (2005); and “Far Near Distance”, House of World Cultures, Berlin (2004). She also participated in the Biennales of Istanbul (2007), Berlin (2001), and Busan, South Korea (2004).

Residencies include the BM Centre of Contemporary Art, Istanbul (2007); Villa Massimo, Rome (2006); Gertrude Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2005); and Schloss Balmoral, Austria (2004).

Forouhar’s work is in the permanent collection of the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia; Belvedere Museum, Vienna, Austria; Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany; Musem of Modern Art, Frankfurt; and the Deutsche Bank Art Collection.

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