Fall 2005 | Gallery
By Sharon LaVon Parker
ArteEast is excited to present the extraordinary paintings of Golnaz Fathi, a young artist living and working in Tehran. Her works are at once painterly explorations of color and form that integrate largely illegible calligraphy, as well as open-ended invitations to meditate on the silence and randomness that they often present. The viewers’ imagination is piqued by the symbols, numbers, and letters, often arranged in what seem to be formulas that carry history and significance, but do they? Originally trained as a calligrapher, Fathi situates her works in constant relationship to the calligraphic tradition, graphic design, and the dialogue between Iranian and European modernisms. Although transnational in conception and execution, her works reveal interests that are strikingly different from those of Iranian exile artists with whom Western audiences are most familiar. We invite you to take a look.