In Shahrooz Sadr’s paintings, substitution and association of subject-matters are abound, with high probabilities and abundant possibilities. Yet, despite its wide-ranging themes, there is no need to explain his work or, at least, it would be redundant. Simply put, his paintings appear as obvious while they also seem impossible or uncanny. In order to make his intention clear, Sadr condenses his selected themes. He removes additional elements: from the horse, for example, there only remains a head and a leg. He preserves what he needs of his naked animals and human-beings and disposes of the rest, tightly juxtaposes what he has preserved together, making not only depth but also any redundancies nonsensical; thus the subject-matter becomes obvious with all its metaphorical aspects and the dense meanings of Sadr’s works are revealed.

It is precisely this density and condensation that gives clarity to our merging with these works, to the extent that sometimes we prefer to look at Sadr’s paintings furtively.

Translated by Parisa Hakim Javadi