Normophobia

My creatures are taken out from the context they belong, and are trapped inside an empty cage bounded by the limiting lines; This generally refers to the situation of the mankind in the society -the norms have been made to helps us feel secure but they transform us inevitably; we have to accept odd -and sometimes grotesque behaviors which are not ours and we suddenly happen to be a collage of an odd being. The metamorphosis here is tried to be shown through the textures which represent the emotional experiences of the subjects. I started this series of work with paintings and drawings of dogs and they have been chosen because they seemed as the most repressed creatures to me. Then during the process another parts of other animals happened to be added to these bodies. Sometimes the inner pressure deformed the frame of works and other times the lines transformed to the most invisible ones; the frame of the paper itself… 

After that I worked on Plexiglass and tried to experience new textures on a transparent background; so now once the works are hanged on the wall, they bring the whole space into my works; everything on that space becomes a part of that pressure and suppression and make the whole concept more extendable.

Ancient Iranian paintings and its odd creatures have been inspired me, such as those of Mohammad Siah- Qalam (15th century) or the creatures which can be found in Medieval paintings. I have been studying on the Goul/ Div motif in Iranian paintings recently and that’s how the Demons series have been created. 

Working with the same technique and material have never been my concern or obsession, I’m just trying to explore all the opportunities which can help me get inside my head.

Later, as the project continued and in the time of Covid Lockdown, I projected the images of my works on my own body; The limitations and boundaries once took my creatures under pressure metaphorically, now is haunting my body; in accordance with the social limitations that recently have intruded into our intimate territories and have turned our friendly body into The other. and that is how a series of photos were created.

Collages

Digital Art(work in progress)

Paintings

Plexiglass(work in progress)

In the process of working on the Normophobia series and with the same idea, I use transparent material for the works so that they become part of the space in which they’re hanged; so that every person or thing in that space become part of the idea I had in my mind.

Print makings

Drawings

Comic-strip series

Statement :

The main idea was to use the old comic strips frame work as a whole drawing; where every frame is a work of art without a story and is related to the other ones just through the visual connection and not by a story. So the audience can build her/his story of it for her/himself. The atmosphere was about night life in Tehran and the hidden things that happens despite the limitations we have.

Unfamiliar Body

During the Pandemic era , alongside the Normophobia series and the use of civic signs in my artworks, I projected them on my own body(specially hands, face and lungs) to show the same limitations having been invaded to our intimate territories(such as home and body); and that’s how the “Unfamiliar Body” has been formed.