REZA LAVASSANI

Ghazal In Lines
2 December -23 December, 2016

Assar Art Gallery is pleased to present Ghazal in Lines, an exhibition of drawings by Reza Lavassani.

Lavassani is known for his large scale masterfully crafted papier-mâché sculptures and his dream-like paintings. A master craftsman, his works are defined by his very personal visual interpretation of elements he chooses from poetry and mythological fables. In his work, he is particularly careful about the approach to the process of art making and uses his own developed techniques to create some of the most unique and adventurous shapes and forms.

His fascination and serious dedication to ‘process’, however, has little been explored. Behind our eyes, every single piece of his cherished papier-mâché sculptures or paintings undergoes a long process of planning and exploration; often starting from a thought that almost always begins in a poem, a Ghazal, that in his view is this land’s cultural chef d’oeuvre and the most civilised form of communication in the world.  His thoughts are then transformed into series of drawings and compositions that eventually result in his final multi-dimensional pieces or a painting.

This exhibition is an investigation into the private archive of Reza Lavassani’s world of drawings and his technique and approach towards process, put into an order never presented before.  The selection consisting of around 40 drawings, aims to showcase a series of predetermined compositions and the raw thoughts of an artist who has lovingly been intimidated by a blank piece of paper.  This selection is presented thematically and consists of series of pen and marker on paper and cardboard in various sizes.

One of Iran’s most celebrated sculptors, Reza Lavassani was born in 1962 in Tehran, Iran, where he lives and works.  His art has been the subject numerous solo exhibitions and has been part of many national and international exhibitions and art fairs.  He has been the recipient of several awards including UNESCO’s Noma Concourse in 2007 and 1994 and the first prize of Tehran’s 4th Biennial of Sculpture and 6th Biennial of Illustration.  His work has also been included in a number of publications inside and outside Iran in addition to being part of several important private collections.