Window onto an Endless Chaos
Window onto an Endless Chaos
INTRODUCTION Shirin Partovi Tavakolian —
This is the Second year Shirin Gallery has taken part in the Modern Section of Art Dubai. Participating in the Contemporary Section would allow us the opportunity of presenting a more diverse range of artists, perhaps appealing to a wider audience. Yet, I find the Modern Section significantly more alluring. Choosing to represent a single artist may encompass a greater risk, however, it has the benefit of allowing me to essentially “live” this artist’s life and work for a stretch of time. In a way, it becomes more of a research project where the gallery is allowed access to the creative mind and life of the artist it represents. Shirin Gallery was fortunate enough to gain Koorosh Shishegaran’s consent in becoming our featured artist this year. At a time when the global art world has embraced an expanded discourse between “east” and “west”, Shishegaran is an artist whose work has bridged this gap for many years. He is an artist with roots in in Persian lines, entwined with abstracted versions of American Pop Art. In his evolution as an artist – and I don’t use this word to indicate “progress” as in “improvement”, but to merely point to a transformation – Shishegaran has moved from realism, to graphic design, to abstract paintings. The art critic Shahrouz Nazari says, “When Shishegaran left the field of graphic design, he continued to apply a graphical sensitivity to his paintings. If the graphic designer Shishegaran was limited to political ideals, here in his abstract paintings, he can go beyond any conceptual or structural boundary.” Shishegaran talks about “reproduction” in his work, a type of reproduction that occurs in nature, like the leaves of a tree, each one identical and unique at the same time, none of them a copy of the other. Or like a Bach fugue, repetitive, yet sublimely unique, and this is what he brings to his paintings. This variety despite similitude is what I’ve had the privilege of experiencing, as I’ve been absorbed in his works over the past several months. Shirin Gallery is pleased to present Koorosh Shishegaran’s “explorations” at Art Dubai.
Koorosh Shishegaran was born in Qazvin in 1944, but then moved to Tehran with his family. After graduation from the Tehran Fine Art High School, he entered the Faculty of Decorative Arts where he did his BA in interior decoration in 1974. His more familiar style of painting is only one of the various artistic experiences of the Shishegaran’s artistic practices. These include a wide array of experiments on different media and a range of approaches. The works before 1981 could be classified into different series, including Mass Production Works (1973-74), Appropriation of Works of Great Artists (1974-76), Postal Art (1976), Art+Art (1976-77), and other two periods – with collaboration of his brothers, Behzad and Esmail – Art for Production (1977-78), and Political Social Posters (1978-81). Since 1983 he has concentrated more on painting and drawing with his familiar feature: line. This interest in whirling lines, however, was obvious in his first solo exhibition in 1973. Shishegaran exhibited these paintings first in 1989 and then 1992, 1997, and 2006 in solo shows. Throughout these years, aside from developing his painting style and participating in many group exhibitions, both inside and outside Iran, he has created other series of works, such as War Drawings (1990), Photographic Works (2006), and Self Portraits (2008). His last solo exhibition was in Opera Gallery, London (2012). Some of his group exhibitions outside Iran are: WashArt in Washington D.C. 1977; Basel, Switzerland, 1978; The Millennium Painting Exhibition in London 1999; exhibition of Iranian artists in Rome, 2000; Meridian Center exhibitions in United States, 2001-2003; Barbican Center, 2001; Beijing Biennial, 2003; Opera Gallery, London, 2013; … With the opening up of international auction houses to Iranian art in recent years, numerous works of the artist have been sold in these auctions.
with Mohsen Vaziri Moghadam and a group of Fine Art School students at Tehran suburbs
1960's ; at a glance
Parents 105 x 62 cm ContĂŠ crayon on paper 1961 (1340)
Self Portrait 60 x 80 cm Oil on canvas 1964 (1343)
Mother 71 x 51 cm Oil on cardboard 1964 (1343)
Photo by Kaveh Kazemi
1973-2010 ; a review
MASS PRODUCED WORKS —
he called “Mass Production”, continuing his practice in other solo exhibitions both at the Iranian National University and Mess Gallery in 1974. He mass produced his works during this period and believed that in order for people to learn about his art, his paintings should be available to the public. Hence, he exhibited his work in public places and donated them to people and those places. Shishegaran writes about this exhibition, “ … my explorations can be summarized in six tenets: 1 - Creating different versions of the same piece at different times and places, in order to reach different qualities and quantities in the work, and to extract it out of the structure of a one-of-a-kind piece, … meaning that in one, twenty, or fifty years from now, either myself or someone else, would be able to recreate the pieces in a different context in terms of time and place, creating works with differing qualities and quantities … 2 - A comprehensive reproduction of a work of art. An inquisitive reproduction, without being concerned about principal or subordinate issues. The type of reproduction that occurs in humans, flora, and fauna, [like the leaves of a tree, identical and unique at the same time, none of them a copy of the other]. … 4 - Being thought provoking. Everything is changing in its relations; change in relation to the artist’s perspective, whether alive or not, whether internal or external. If the lifeless object does not change in relation to its context, the context will change in relation to the object. So everything is changing in relation to everything else, every hour, and every second of every day, an enormous and infinitely variable change. Every form, volume and color in nature, and generally in life, is constantly changing. A continuous change and transformation, yet dependent on everything else … 6 - Making art available to the people [by taking advantage of artistic reproductions, beyond the common copy]. (see Alireza Sami Azar’s article, Art Tomorrow, No. 28+3, winter 2011 – Behzad Hatam, Tamasha Magazine, No. 132, Mehr 1352 (1973)).
Poster of his first exhibition 70 x 50 cm Hand-pulled silk screen print on paper 1973 (1352)
Mother 85 x 57 cm Oil on panel 1972 (1351)
Untitled 70 x 50 cm Oil on panel 1972 (1351)
A REPRODUCTION OF WORKS OF MASTERS —
Shishegaran undertook to reproduce works of old and modern masters when he finished mass production of his paintings. He appropriated some known elements of such works and combined them with concepts and elements of his own. The combination of mass produced works and appropriated elements of works of masters resulted in four simultaneous exhibitions in four venues in Tehran back in 1976. The venues included Iran Gallery, Mess Gallery, and Palace of the Youth both in the south and north of Tehran. He predicts that his work could be misinterpreted and writes a letter to the Ayandegan newspaper, explaining his motives: “The aim here is a general study and exploration of well-established and serious works of a few painters (Modigliani, Klee, Picasso, Alireza Abbassi, Vaziri and Mondrian) through technique, style and insight of another painter, so that one could gather several painters with differing techniques, styles, philosophies and nationalities under one style and one vision. To drag them from this time to another, to mass reproduce them in new compositions and various versions and to use them one way or another so that they could serve and help the understanding of one another. In my works everything sits easily and freely together with other elements, from geometric and non-geometric forms to objects and humans, despite their connections outside the tableau… The shapes in my paintings renounce their normal everyday connections they have in the outside world and why not? They explore infinite other connections, metamorphose, repeat, are not too stable, they go from this relation to another, from this canvas to the next, from this color to the other, from this line to the next, from this performance to the other one.” (see Alireza Sami Azar’s article, Art Tomorrow, No. 28+3, winter 2010).
Reproduction of Works of Masters Triptych 310 x 110 cm (each 90x90 cm) Oil on panel 1974-75 (1353-54)
POSTAL ART —
In a reaction to domestic and international social as well as political circumstances, Shishegaran designed a poster in 1976, illustrating the fragile peace process in Lebanon that followed the 1976 civil war in this country. In an attempt to exclude the commissioner from the graphic design, Shishegaran tried, similar to what is a usual practice in film industry, to find a producer, and in order to spread the message that the poster was trying to convey, he used the same design in producing postcards which he sent out to political, social, cultural and media centers, ranging from the United Nations to newspapers and publishers. He coined the term "Postal Art" to refer to this period of his artistic experiences, a term he used on the postcards. During this period, the name of Bahman Jahangiri would appear, both as a producer and an investor, on a majority of posters designed by Koorosh Shishegaran. In the note accompanying the mentioned postcards, Shishegaran says: “One of my ideas in visual arts is to create comprehensive human contacts nationwide as well as in other countries through suitable communication channels. For instance, presentation of paintings suitable for display on television, or distribution of copies of works of art through the post to all around the world. This has been done in the present work under the title "For peace in Lebanon." In this manner one can deal with such problems and events that human beings cannot show indifference to. As an example, the ravages of war and the craving for peace in Lebanon inspired me in a bitter work in graphic art which portrays a black flower, as a sign of peace, emerging out of the barrel of a red gun, the sign of war.“ In another letter to the press he tries to explain more on this practice: “What I mean by postal art is to use post, a powerful means of communication, as a tool in art; similar to the way we use stone, metal, color to work and communicate with. … As if one day a painter would talk in the radio for half an hour and then present it as a radio-painting … what makes this important and significant is that this new tool in painting is used in a way, no one has ever imagined before.“ (see Alireza Sami Azar’s article, Art Tomorrow, 28+3, winter 2011).
Poster of his second exhibition 70 x 50 cm Hand-pulled silk screen print on paper 1976 (1355)
Postal Art 20 x 15 cm Hand-pulled silk screen print on cardboard 1976 (1355)
The statement of Postal Art
ART + ART —
The concept that art did not belong only to galleries, museums and wealthy families led Shishegaran to widely exhibit and donate his mass produced works in public places, thus taking a major step toward popularizing art, a trend which later continued in Postal Art. This time, however, the significance of the public aspect of art revealed itself in a different form. Art could be everyday life of people, visiting a patient or helping the elderly cross the street. In effect, whatever exists in the nature and life itself is a living, dynamic art, made up of diverse art forms. Taking this into consideration, Shishegaran designed a poster in 1976 under which he wrote "K. Shishegaran's Works: Shahreza Ave. Itself". He found Shahreza Street (now known as Enqelab Street) a collection of whatever can be called "art". This was the specific perspective he wished people to have when passing the street and in fact he invited people to see Shahreza Street from this point of view. This truly conceptual experiment was repeated during a visit to Washington in spring 1977 along with a group of avant-garde artists. This time Shishegaran made six similar posters and declared Wash Art Expo itself as his artwork in them. A new title was seen on the posters, though. It read "False Art". He called this period of his experiments "Art + Art". Shishegaran writes a letter to some newspapers and says: “What I had in mind while making this poster was to say that a street or in other words, one part of the scope of our lives is a work of art of great and marvelous magnitude which holds all the forms of arts we know and love. Maybe this work would have better been titled “living art”. Each and every instant, the elements of this giant art form, take up a new position in the background so that each time a street is a unique and irreplaceable work, significantly differing from the one before. People who are, in fact, parts of the abovementioned elements talk, think, eat, quarrel, make love, produce, trade and do thousand other things. They enter and exit from this work. The street is a work of art in itself even before we make a painting, a sculpture, write a poem or a play about it. I believe the street is an art form in front of which all other Art movement seems inferior. Take for example the works of Kinetic painters and sculptors as against the movements of a tree from sapling to a grown sturdy old tree internally and the movements of its leaves in the wind externally; or the movements of a biker with his full efficiency in the street; how would they fare? How would their artworks compare with tree and biker? It is, in my opinion, less than of a cheap doll or toy and of not much worth … Faced with this street poster, painter puts down his brush, film maker his camera, poet his words and any other artist his instruments aside and would present life in itself, instead of a copy from it, as a masterpiece of great and marvelous dimensions. A work which, both inwardly and outwardly, is constantly changing and reinventing itself, a unique art work in each moment.” (see Alireza Sami Azar’s article, Art Tomorrow, No. 28+3, winter 2011 - Nasrin Tabatabaie, No. 6, October 2007).
FALSE ART 80 x 60 cm Hand-pulled silk screen print on paper 1977 (1355)
ART+ART 80 x 60 cm Hand-pulled silk screen print on paper 1977 (1355)
ART FOR PRODUCTION —
Shishegaran began a new period in 1977 and half of 1978. During this period he collaborated with his brothers, Behzad and Ismail, and others in designing and producing furniture such as chandelier, wardrobe, armchair, table, chair, etc. The notion of public art revealed itself in a different form this time. Art greatly contributed to the production of what was available to people in their everyday life. He called this period "Art for Production". Shishegaran and his brothers put their products on display in 1978. The exhibition poster bore the name of Bahman Jahangiri, as the producer, and other contributors.
Art for Production (posters of the exhibition) 70 x 50 cm Hand-pulled silk screen print on paper 1978 (1357)
For A Free Press 70 x 50 cm Off-set print 1978 (1357)
SOCIO-POLITICAL POSTERS —
When socio-political turbulences in Iran grew in 1978, Koorosh Shishegaran felt a duty to design two posters in September and October of the same year (a few months prior to the victory of the 1979 revolution) titled "For A Free Press" and "For Today", respectively. These posters opened a window of opportunity to Koorosh and his brothers Behzad and Ismail Shishegaran who continued the practice until the late 1981. During this period, they responded to the events of the time by designing posters with individual signatures but in collaboration with each other. These posters originally appeared in silk screen, followed by offset versions in high print runs. They also organized an exhibition of their posters at the central library of the University of Tehran in March 1980. (see Arash Tanhayi's article, Kheradnameh Hamshahri, No. 68, special edition for story, February 2011 – Arash Tanhayi, Tandis Magazine, No. 168 – Saed Meshki, Neshan Magazine, No. 18, autumn & winter 2008 – Ali Asqar Qarebaqi, Golestaneh Magazine, No. 9, October 1999).
For Peace in Lebanon 80 x 60 cm Hand-pulled silk screen print on paper 1976 (1355)
For Today 70 x 40 cm Off-set print 1978 (1357)
THE FIRST EXHIBITION OF HIS MORE FAMOUS LINES —
During the late 1981, Koorosh Shishegaran switched the course of his artistic and social activities and starting from 1983, he tended to accept both private and government commissions mostly in the field of graphic design, drawing and painting throughout the war. He held the first exhibition of his more familiar undulating lines in 1989 at Classic Gallery.
Poster of his exhibition 70 x 50 cm Off-set print 1989 (1368)
WAR DRAWINGS —
During the eight year Iran and Iraq war (1980-1988), Shishegaran appeared as an artist who was greatly influenced by the social circumstances of the time, creating drawings that reflected the spirit of those years. A small portion of his drawings of the war period was exhibited at Golestan Gallery in 1990. The invitation card read "An Exhibition of Small Drawings by Koorosh Shishegaran", explaining that the drawings were made between 1981 and 1985, with a majority of works reminding the audience of the Iran-Iraq war. Ali-Asqar Qarebaqi in a related article says: “Although Shishegaran mentions on his invitation card that his drawings are “motifs on the aftermath of war” but these “motifs” are not the chivalrous escapades that we would experience in classic literature and poetry. Some of the drawings have independent visual and psychological identity apart from their affiliation with war; in fact weapons and armament even in their most abstract form act as narrating elements which seem to have been imposed upon the works. Even without these weapons, characters of Shishegaran tend to fall apart from within and the same blood they have been entrusted from the renaissance masters is viciously shed. Human beings have turned into objects, void of the familiar symmetrical facial features, wrapped in bandages, looking at the viewer through the almost concealed gaping abyss that were once eyes, hoping to evoke empathy. The artist’s illustrations seem to embody all the historical grandeur and horror, surrounding the concept of being slain; illustrations that seem to look outwardly through an allegorical language, independent from familiar visual elements.” (see Ali Asqar Qarebaqi's article, Adineh Magazine, No. 52, December 1980).
Poster of exhibition of War Drawings 49 x 33 cm Off-set print 1990 (1369)
Untitled 11.5 x 11.5 cm Ink on paper 1982 (1361/05/05)
Untitled 30 x 15 cm Ink on Paper 1990 (1369) Untitled Acrylic on canvas 100x100 cm 20??
Untitled Acrylic on canvas 100x100 cm 20??
Untitled 16.5 x 16.5 cm Ink on paper 1984 (1363)
Untitled 21.5 x 13.5 cm Ink on paper 1982 (1361/05/05)
Untitled 12.5 x 12.5 cm Ink on paper 1982 (1360/08/17)
THE SECOND EXHIBITION OF MORE FAMILIAR LINES —
The second solo exhibition of Koorosh Shishegaran that showed his undulating lines was held in 1992 at Golestan Gallery In relation with this exhibition, Javad Mojabi says: “In the realm of hidden concepts inside the labyrinth of lines, works of Shishegaran are similar to a type of music wherein the composition of pleasing echoes unfolds and extends to the very limits of intuitive perception and senses. Here the artist does not seek to describe or define, he creates something which any title or any personal interpretation, even by painter himself, would confine and restrict. His canvases are equally similar to the medium of architecture. Dynamic lines create solid, stable and measured structures comparable to the skeleton of a modern building with an accurate geometric pattern. The line starts from a point in the tableau and centimetre by centimetre unpredictably moves twisting and turning along to discover his life force in the new free flowing space of the background. Black line would suddenly become red, is cut, joins together again with intertwined converging lines runs deep or in diverging manner escapes it all. A nervous lively movement of a jet fountain effervescent with tempestuous rhythm, a sudden explosion of mingled wires captured a moment before being torn to pieces.” (see Javad Mojabi's article, Adineh Magazine, No. 76, December 1992 – Behzad Hatam's article, Kelk Magazine, No. 34, December 1992).
THE THIRD EXHIBITION OF LINES —
Shishegaran held the third solo exhibition of his abstract lines at Golestan Gallery back in 1997 About these works, Ali-Asqar Qarebaqi says: “Through years of design and experience, Kourosh Shishegaran has come to develop a language he finds suitable and effective for his visual statements. What Shishegaran has found, is not merely another style of painting; it is a vocabulary broad enough to tell any story or paint any idea. … Shishegaran starts his painting with a form of hasty scribbling which takes a subconscious explosive form, and then chooses the elements of his paintings from what has been created, finally producing his final painting by adding a blend of art and skill. … Shishegaran puts man in the midst of events and recites the painful tale of a generation he is part of. What he displays is the clue he offers to the audience on its new unknown identity. At first, the spectator prefers to remain apart from this complex identity; but after knowing it and feeling closer to it, he feels each thread of this fabric having roots in him, heading towards him, and ending within himself.” (see Javad Mojabi's article, Adineh Magazine, No. 125-126, March 1998 - Ali Asqar Qarebaqi, Tavoos Quarterly, No. 3 & 4, Spring and Summer 2000).
WORKS OF PHOTOGRAPHY —
Shishegaran tried his hand in photography in first half of 1990’s, in the hope that he would combine his lines with landscapes, natural textures or plaster of walls. He painted over the photographs, using his individual abstract lines style, and called them "Photoworks". Shishegaran put these works on display at Arya Gallery in 1996. In a brief explanation on this exhibition he says: “My aim here was not only to take photos, I wanted to use the camera as a tool for painting, a new means for visual arts. The idea behind most works was that instead of working on different versions in different media, to use their photos to represent the same thing. Using this technique has also enabled my lines and colors to roam the various spaces of the works freely. I took the pictures in 1992 to 1994 and worked on them throughout 1996.”
Untitled 150 x 150 cm Plot-Painting Inkjet print on canvas (unique piece) 2006 (1384)
PLOT-PAINTINGS IN THE FOURTH EXHIBITION OF ABSTRACT LINES —
He held his next solo exhibition at Khak Gallery in 2006 as a continuum to his artistic practice. Shishegaran produced a number of works of digital art on canvas during these years, some of which were displayed in this exhibition. (see Behnam Kamrani's article, Tandis Magazine, No. 76, June 2006).
Untitled 200 x 130 cm Plot-Painting Inkjet print on canvas (unique piece) 2006 (1384)
SELF PORTRAITS —
In spring 2007, Shishegaran presented one of his works as a self portrait. He exhibited this painting along with 30 digital reproductions of the same work at Khak Gallery. He chose "Self Portraits" as the exhibition title. In a return to the period he mass produced works, Shishegaran replaced silk screen with digital prints after nearly a quarter of a century and presented the original painting with different hues of color to depict dissimilar yet common aspects of human beings.
Poster of Self-Portraits exhibition 2007 (1386)
Self Portraits Triptych (each 140 x 100 cm) Plot-Painting Inkjet print on canvas (unique piece) 2007 (1386)
TEN GALLERY EXHIBITIONS —
Shishegaran participated in three thematic exhibitions at Ten Gallery in autumn 2008, spring 2010 and autumn 2010 along with a number of renowned artists such as Parviz Tanavoli, Abbas Kiarostami, Gholamhossein Nami, Farideh Lashaei, Parviz Kalantary, Reza Derakhshani, Afshin Pirhashemi, etc. The exhibitions were entitled “Van Gogh’s Ear”, “Mona Lisa” and “Van Gogh’s Ear, Second Cut” (see Behzad Hatam’s articles in the catalogs of these exhibitions).
at Auver cemetery
Van Gogh’s Ear - 1 150 x 150 cm Acrylic on canvas 2008 (1388)
MONA LISA AND KOOROSH SHISHEGARAN Behzad Hatam Mona Lisa’s exhibition has been asked of the artists whose style would lend itself to it, but as for Koorosh Shishegaran I did not think twice. Shishegaran has passed his van Gogh experiment with flying colours. A more or less abstract image of the ear and an allusion to the tensions of van Gogh using his unique language and of course a couple of newly invented words for the occasion. This time round, Shishegaran has approached the subject matter from a different viewpoint. What we see here are two artists of 500 years apart, painting alongside each other. Shishegaran has preserved da Vinci’s image in its entirety and has painted over it. Shishegaran painting is in 3 layers over the Mona Lisa’s. In the base level, on the same level of da Vinci’s tableau, four rings are painted with delicate yet light and easy touches of the brush. Rings with precious stones, a generous gesture which befits the painter whose name is at the top of the list of bestselling Persian artists of the year. The mid layer, a semi-transparent one, is painted with long, free and restless brush strokes. This layer resembles a lace curtain drawn between us and Mona Lisa, revealing her image as much as disguising it. This layer, this curtain, is in my view the most important and meaningful part of Shishegaran’s work. This curtain indicates how we are apart time wise, all the differences between our times, showing the hands on our 2010 dial upon the ones of Mona Lisa in 1500s; as well as the cries and tumult of our times on the calm and quietude of her world. Trying to depict our chaotic times, Shishegaran has lost his composure. He, whose work was the epitome of an organised and controlled representation of a rebellious, irate, anxious and distressed inner self, has now given his hand a free reign to let out all the cries and laments of his heart. This layer shows the characteristics of the Art and the identity of a modern artist, alongside the ones of the Art and artist of the renaissance period. The History of Art on one page. On the upper layer, there is only one motif of Shishegaran, we see something enigmatic. Is it his calling card or a secret waiting to be unravelled and deciphered as another da Vinci code? But at closer inspection, what it really looks like is a heart. Is it Mona Lisa’s heart? A heart that has come from the furthest layer, the depth of Leonardo’s painting and has approached us, to the closest layer in our presence in compassion? It is best not to ask much. Let it be one more mystery for Mona Lisa. To read the other critique about Koorosh Shishegaran and his work refer to the catalogue of “van Gogh’s ear” in “gallery10.tehran”.
Mona Lisa 140 x 100 cm Acrylic on print on panel 2010
* Khat-Khaty's
* Doodles and Scribbles
An aspiration was born, in the scene of visual arts; driving the Persian painter to retain his national identity but also try and be recognised and accepted as an international artist. Longing to fulfil this dream, Persian artists endeavoured to renounce all which did not necessarily belong with painting, refusing to accept that this media is merely a means to depict history, politics and literature. They began creating works with particular aptitude of the medium, expressed through harmony of line and colour; as well as portraying history, politics and literature of the era. Like music, architecture and poetry, inventing its own distinctive language, a profound enough vision to describe the state of modern man. There are a few of our painters who have managed to master this distinctive language and that essential expression fluently and genuinely. Shishegaran is one of these shining examples. Javad Mojabi, “Reality of today, utopia of tomorrow in dreamy frames,� Adineh Magazine, No. 76, December 1992.
Red Miniature 140 x 125 cm Acrylic on canvas 2005 (1384)
VIEWING A MASTERPIECE Behzad Hatam The following text has been written for the catalogue of Christie’s auction in October 2014 In 1992 Shishegaran exhibited his latest works in Tehran’s Golestan Gallery. It has since remained as his vintage exhibition. He had mastered his unique and individual invention and style in a series of works that represent the artist in the peak of his career. The present piece is the largest canvas of that exhibition and the crown of Shishegaran’s artistic career. Not only was this the largest, it was also a unique work. In no other, mostly minimalist, canvas of his do we find as many colours as he has applied to this particular painting. At first glance it seems to be an accidental or improvised doodle. In a more considering observation it proves to be an elaborate art of extreme control, high balance, artistic maturity, strong craftsmanship and delicate composition of forms and colours. This painting is in fact a very carefully organized chaos that brings the image of a portrait to the viewer’s eye. This portraiture is formed by mainly black stripes. Among the stripes that at first seem to be long twisting lines, blacks are the longest group and others are much shorter, sometimes not anything more than a touch of a colour. The overall body of work is a multilayered composition with blacks on top. Dark grey tones come next and down under come stripes of warm tones. There is no sole background colour covering the unfilled surface under the hordes of stripes. The remaining small surfaces are filled with different warm tones that complete the subtle colour composition of the work. In this unique canvas the viewer can count more than thirty tones of different colours. Among them there is even an unexpected touch of dull green that does not come to view at all. Shishegaran’s style, hence doodles, have roots in his long search in Iranian visual culture in whose domain Persian calligraphy plays the major role. His stripes are in fact movements of a calligraphy reed pen and therefore as in Persian calligraphy, they produce a vision of volumes. In each twist of a stripe the line seems to have turned 180 degrees as if around a sphere. Shishegaran intensifies this vision of volume with his grouping of tones in different layers and filling the underlying surface with regard to this arrangement of tones. The layout of the picture is managed along the breadth of the canvas. The ‘portrait’ is located on the breadth-wise golden section of the canvas. To keep the balance, Shishegaran works his typical device. He places an upside-down shadow of the portrait on the centre symmetrical position to the main image. This shadow is formed by bright grey tones. Surfaces of deep yellow come on both ends of the canvas to complement the colour balance of this masterpiece. Over-painted stripes and surfaces which can be detected in some parts of the canvas indicate the effort, attention and subtlety dedicated to this especial painting.
Portrait 300 x 185 cm Oil on canvas 1991 (1370)
Photo by Maryam Zandi
Portrait 210 x 150 cm Oil on canvas 1979 (1358)
Vase 180 x 130 cm Oil on canvas 2003 (1382)
Portrait 70 x 50 cm Acrylic on cardboard 1997 (1376)
Portrait 70 x 50 cm Acrylic on cardboard 1997 (1376)
Figure 160 x 130 cm Acrylic on canvas 2005 (1384)
Figure 133 x 133 cm Oil on canvas 1992 (1371)
Scream Triptych 490x145cm (145x145-200x145-145x145cm) Acrylic on canvas 2013
A brief overview of Koorosh Shishegaran’s work in an oil-related exhibition in Tehran (Shirin Gallery April 2014)
Although oil offered us excellent advantages and produced considerable profits, we could not overlook the subsequent oilrelated damages that we inflicted upon ourselves and upon our environment. Mankind fought for oil. Some men gave their blood, others committed bloodshed; some profited, others were exploited; some tyrannized, while others were subject to injustice. Human beings put the environment at risk by injuring animals, destroying the atmosphere which is vital for their own survival, and by damaging oceans and whatever creature exists there. Man dissipated a large portion of the gift that the Earth has bestowed upon him. Throughout history, mankind has left numerous blood spots on this black sea that is at the verge of exhaustion. We human beings as well as all living creatures around us are drowning in this depleting shallow black sea of bloodstained oil. From a different standpoint, we are sinking in a deeper, darker mire of human greed and desire for domination. This unbridled desire for domination recounts a part of the recurring story of human “Sreams”.
Ghouri (teapot) 90 x 90 cm Oil on canvas 1989 (1368)
I always thought to myself why we should not paint a portrait in an abstract form. An abstract portrait gives the artist liberty to look beyond the appearance into subject in a symbolic way. There are many unspoken secrets within a portrait that one revealed, present a very different world. It is a world much more interesting than the world of appearance. Every artist has his unique way of depicting his subjects if he tries to detach himself from the appearance. Koorosh Shishegaran
"Self Portrait" 170 x 120 cm Acrylic on canvas 1997 (1376)
Figure Triptych 135 x 60 cm (60x60-60x15-60x60 cm) Oil on canvas 1371 (1992)
‌By making use of jagged, chaotic lines, Shishegaran depicts the contemporary human condition while releasing the latent energy of color from the cover of concepts and informing the audience of the power of the image. The man he depicts in this manner is an interpretation of the contemporary man who is a confused tangle in the midst of variousconcepts. ‌ But the symbolism of these figures does more than the figures themselves. Each figure is a symbol of the rupturing of the cloth woven for man in past Utopia. Each painting resembles a figure that lived one day in Panglossian drebut and is now ruptured and lies dead on the surface of Shishegaran's paintings. Ali- Asqar Qarebaqi, Tavoos Quarterly, No. 3 & 4, Spring and Summer 2000.
Portrait 150 x 150 cm Oil on canvas 1992 (1371)
This interlaced skein of lines, which could be an emblem of life, a fusion of reflection and perception or involuntary transported motion of an adventurer’s hand, is in the act of winding or unwinding? Is it an abstract tableau exploring the creative function of curved lines or is it a representation of a portrait or a figure continuously pared down and reduced to its internal coils, to its ultimate truth? Javad Mojabi, “Reality of today, utopia of tomorrow in dreamy frames,” Adineh Magazine, No. 76, December 1992.
Portrait 160 x 130 cm Acrylic on canvas 2005 (1384)
Untitled 100 x 100cm Oil on canvas 1992 (1371)
Portrait 70 x 50 cm Acrylic on cardboard 1997 (1376)
You could observe his progression from nature towards abstract paintings, his abstraction being deeply rooted in the realism of the era. A frontier beyond which the familiar world surrounding us distils into its pure essence and that abstract image has the power of externalising all the world of the objects, relations and concepts in its totality. He is the historian narrating this unique political and cultural geography in the language of line and colour, for anyone anywhere who would recognise the symbols. What makes me praise his paintings is his vibrant epic world depicted by his unbaiting, dynamic colourful lines, agile and joyous despite the confused grieving atmosphere all around; carving out a dream world, we all desperately desire not the one we all see. Javad Mojabi, “Reality of today, utopia of tomorrow in dreamy frames,� Adineh Magazine, No. 76, December 1992.
Table 130 x 130 cm Oil on canvas 1997 (1376)
My special thanks goes to Koorosh Shishegaran for accepting to travel along this journey with me and for his brilliant and creative art works. I am also indebted to the following for all their help and support: Dr. Alireza Samiazar Pooya Shishegaran -Javad Mojabi Behzad Hatam Ali Asghar Gharebaghi -Poopak Mojabi Laleh Pasdar Saghri Sanam Kalantari Behshad Mohtashami -Maryam Zandi Kaveh Kazemi -Iman Safaei Kiyan Forootan -Nader Tavakolian -Dabestan Studio Atelier Gereh Curator & Editor Shirin Partovi Tavakolian Atelier Gereh (Studio of Koorosh Shishegaran) Print & Production dabestanstudio.com 2015 Shirin Art Gallery All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of Shirin Art Gallery. All images in the book are copyright of the respected owners. Published for Art Dubai 2015
I have been trying to find a style or language expressive of the modern era. We live in a period of many complications, a period of rushing and excitement, a period of ties and confusions, of contradictions and mysteries, of disturbances and high speed, a period of color, explosion of wonders and novelties – and in short, a period of complicated life for today’s man. I have been striving to find a style and language for my works which have a new, special and up-to-date elegance and can be viewed as pure painting, rooted in my own country’s art and culture. Koorosh Shishegaran