،
Dastan's Basement announces "Disfigure," a group exhibition curated by Saman Naghifam, featuring works by Farshid Maleki (b. 1943), Mohammad Fassounaki (b. 1943), Raana Farnoud (b. 1953), Nazanin Allahverdi (b. 1984), Heval Tazhandareh (b. 1991), and Donya Aalipour (b. 1995). Opening on January 3, 2024, and continuing through January 24, 2025, this exhibition showcases the works of guest artists exhibiting at Dastan's Basement.
The group exhibition "Disfigure" brings together works that confront the viewer with figures and beings that exist outside the bounds of conventional beauty and life itself. These are forms that are either incomplete or destroyed-fallen fetuses, abandoned corpses, and dismembered bodies-all sharing a common destiny of being beyond the realm of the living. These artworks do not merely recount the stories of these unsettling entities; they delve into the fates of painted beings that defy the natural cohesion of a Renaissance body. Instead of harmonious proportions and smooth shadowing, they evoke a visceral reaction, prompting the viewer to confront the presence of ugliness. But why are these distortions presented to us? Each artist provides their response: some see the grotesque as a reflection of the nightmare of existence on Earth, others reference violence and power structures, while some view these disturbing figures as an inevitable result of the constraints of the two-dimensional canvas. "Disfigure" offers a rare opportunity to examine decades of artistic exploration into these unsettling forms, finally presenting them side by side for .a deeper dialogue