ASAD FAULWELL
Asad Faulwell paints decorative, floral
arabesques reminiscent of Islamic textiles, manuscripts and ceramics, which
serve as the armature
for cut-out black and white press photos of key figures
within the turbulent social and political history of the Middle East. His work,
as he
describes it, “…challenges pre-conceived
notions of nationality and cultural identity, creating an experience in which
established labels
become blurred and iconography from seemingly contrasting
cultures occupy the same visual space. This combination leads to a simultaneous
rejection and embrace of the old and the new, creating an
environment that is in constant flux.
Religion, politics, nationality and culture are
treated as the building blocks
of identity, depicted and dissected to varying degrees. Through painting and collage I examine
the way in
which power is gained, consolidated and communicated.” Collections
of his work are included in The Collection of Dean Valentine and Amy
Adelson,
Marc Selwyn, Amber Noland and Anne Rickets Noland, Timonthy Noland, Gina Lane Ozuna, Carl Berg, Julie Jaffe and Peter Graciosi.
SHADI GHADIRIAN
Shadi Ghadirian was born in
1974 in Tehran, Iran. She is a
photographer who continues to live and work in Iran. Ghadirian studied
photography at Azad University (in Tehran). After finishing her B. A.,
Ghadirian began her professional career as a photographer. She says
that
"quite by accident", the subjects of her first two series were
"women". After finishing college, Ghadirian was inspired to make
work
reflecting what she saw as the duality and contradiction of life. Her
Qajar Series (1998-2001) consists of small studio portraits of women
dressed
in the nineteenth-century Qajar style. Many of the women photographed are
Ghadirian's friends and family. The backgrounds of
these portraits
resemble those found in photographic studios of that period. However, the
artist has added some modern anomalies or
dissonances, such as a mountain bike,
a newspaper, or a Pepsi-Cola can. Ghadirian plays with these juxtapositions and
contrasts, thus
expressing the difficulties women face in Iran today - torn
between tradition and the modernity of globalization. These composed portraits
depict women unsure to which era they belong to.
Ghadirian made her Like
Every Day Series after her marriage to fellow photographer, Peyman
Hooshmandzadeh. In this body of work,
Ghadirian comments upon the
daily repetitive routine to which many women find themselves consigned and by
which many women are
defined. Each
of these color photographs depicts a figure draped in patterned fabric in place
of the typical Iranian chador. However, instead
of a face, each figure
has a common household item such as an iron, a tea cup, a broom, a pot or a pan.
Currently, Ghadirian works
at the Museum of Photography in Tehran. Her work is intimately linked to her
identity as a Muslim woman living
in Iran. Nonetheless, her art also deals with
issues relevant to women living in other parts of the world. She questions the
role of women in
society and explores ideas of censorship, religion, modernity,
and the status of women. Ghadirian's profile in the western art world is increasing
rapidly. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across
Europe, and the U.S.A. She has also been featured in print and
electronic media
(including the New York Times, Photography Now, the Daily Telegraph, the BBC and others). Her work
is in the collection
of the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, among others.
