AMENOR Contemporary is delighted to host an exhibition which is the first solo in the show of the Persian artist ‘Seyed A. Shariatpanahi’. Entitled ‘Within & Without’ it will feature 13 oil paintings from 23 Oct until 13 Nov, 2021.

Seyed A. Shariatpanahi (b. 1938, Iran), is one of the first-generation Iranian modernist artists and he has had a crucial role in art development in the country. He graduated from the College of Fine Arts at University of Tehran in 1969 as the first art college in the Middle East with French teaching methods.

From 1975 till 1996, he had been member of jury in the annual festival of arts painting, held by ministry of education in Iran, where the talented students were identified.

In his early work in 1970s and after completion of bachelor program, he was impacted by Cubism. Human body in a variety of different configurations and viewpoints was the main focus of his artworks which were analyzed, broken and deformed in a two-dimensional form in a greater context.

He continued this in the same manner until the Islamic Revolution in 1979, when Iranian society experienced profound changes in the political regime. Changes were experienced in every section of social life and the arts, including the visual arts, were no exception. His career was influenced by revolutionary excesses and he was banned for a year from serving in the organization of education. Shariatpanai who was in his early way of professional career, had to put away all his paintings and stop painting to save his life.

His works are the scene of the interaction of modernity and the traditional world in such a way that his works include signs of both modernity and modern system of thought along with traditional paradigm of thinking. Shariatpanahi has consciously carried out his role in this historical twist by avoiding the conflicts of modern-traditional worlds.

In the works of Seyed Asadollah, concepts are neither conspicuous between lines and colors, not hidden in such a way that the observer is unable to detect their presence. With careful reading between the lines, the viewer could grasp the shapes and intentions the artist had in mind.

The majority of Shariatpanahi’s works are according to this principle both in form and theme. He is a master of the eastern and western history of art and the traces of Cubist and Futurist artists along with Iranian narrative art are evident in his paintings. Nonetheless, it is crucial to see how he has stepped in a different path than western artists, seeking to create beautiful and insightful Iranian themes.

Seyed Asadollah Shariatpahi’s work has been the subject of several solo and group exhibitions. In 2015, his collection of painting was published in Iran in bilingual (Persian-English) called “The Veil of Clarity”.

We shall be exhibiting Shariatpanahi works from the early 2000 and his latest body of work to underline the uniqueness of the artist’s long career, where his inspiration has never dimmed.