Gallery Ivde is proud to present ‘Walking In The Darkness Of A Promised Light’ by Reza Aramesh, opening at the Dubai gallery on March 14th 2011, and running until May 5th 2011. This exhibition features four new photographic images and five new sculptures. As well as his solo show at Gallery IVDE, Aramesh will also be exhibiting a major new work at the gallery’s booth at Art Dubai, between March 16 – 19.
This exhibition is Reza Aramesh’s second solo presentation at the gallery, following his 2009 show, ‘Between The Eye And The Object Falls A Shadow’ which was widely acclaimed for its dramatic, yet thought-provoking, representations of prisoners, arranged in tableaux based on contemporary war reportage, recreated amidst the opulence of castles, palaces and stately homes. The peculiarly arresting impressions created by Aramesh served to foreground his ongoing investigations into portrayals of conflict, wealth, religion, culture and oppression – themes to which he returns in this new show at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde.
Drawing on influences as varied as 17th century religious iconography, classic Iranian and European arthouse cinema, Renaissance-era painting and sculpture and contemporary news reportage, ‘Walking In The Darkness Of A Promised Light’ brings to life the inner realities excavated through Aramesh’s diverse techniques. In this new body of work, the artist positions himself centrally, amidst the swirling cross-currents of global information flow and relentless supply and demand of media imagery from across the world. Reflecting on the manner in which news media casts victims of suffering and conflict into pre-ordained clichés, he asks us to investigate anew, our own value systems and moral responses to those who wield power and influence, as well as those who suffer and sacrifice themselves. In evoking the transcendental attitude of figures in devotional paintings and sculptures from the past (clearly referencing traditional Catholic and Islamic tropes) Aramesh recontextualises his subjects in a new light that serves to invite our full engagement and moral re-assessment.
Building on the themes explored in ‘Between The Eye And The Object Falls A Shadow’, this exhibition presents a new series of photographs, presented as triptychs and diptychs, as well as five sculptures that employ traditional 17th century polychromatic, marquetry and wood-carving techniques. The triptych is a form usually found in Christian art, invoking the fundamental Trinity concept. Aramesh is inspired by devotional art, especially the forms that evoked suffering and martyrdom in saintly figures and he brings this beguiling context to his present-day subjects, throwing open the debate as to whether the young men captured and killed in contemporary theatres of war are also saints or martyrs of a modern age. This is the style in which Aramesh draws on in the 21st century, to re-invent today’s sainted figures – hero-victims of war and global unrest.
Aramesh stages recreations of events found in newspapers and television reports from images of war across the world. Continuing his methodology, the sculptures and photographs are titled numerically as ‘Actions’, and at ½ and ¾ life-sized, feature captive figures drawn from images of prisoners, humiliated and bowed. The striking juxtaposition of the meticulously-crafted marquetry on the plinths, evocative of the geometric intricacy of palatial floors with the figures of terrified, victimized men, is haunting.
The artist has experimented throughout his career with creating staged tableaux within dramatic surroundings, from arranging groups of homeless people within Tate Britain in London to staging a re-enactment of the traditional Changing Of The Guards in London’s Trafalgar Square, using immigrant men in place of the Queen’s guardsmen.
The series of photographs in this show document recreations of scenes drawn from the media, of tragedies and war – transposed to the glory and splendour of stately homes and palaces, including the Armourers & Brasiers hall in London and the Musee Rodin in Paris. The implications are clear, yet complex. In drawing out links between wealth, power, violence and conflict and in the extreme contrasts, highlighted in aesthetic terms through stark monochromes through to the ideological fabric of the work, Aramesh brings the power of religious iconography to bear on the anonymous faces and forms of those who continue to die today, in the name of dogma and blind ambition. In his sensitive, still, yet powerful works, Reza Aramesh explores the moral universes between the suffering and saintliness that we, as humans, are capable of.
Private preview: Monday 14 March from 5 PM
An exhibition supported by Ruinart
