ALIREZA ADAMBAKAN

My Icons III
30 November -24 December, 2012

Assar Art Gallery is pleased to present My Icons III, an exhibition of paintings by Alireza Adambakan.  Marking the artist’s 3rd solo exhibition with the gallery, My Icons III showcases the latest works from an ongoing project of distinctive urban scenes of mainly social, architectural, cultural, political and religious spaces in which interior worlds of personal symbolism are made exterior over layers and layers of mixed media on paper. 
Adambakan’s urban scenes came to life in 1996 as a series of expressionist paintings of old forgotten cross paths loosely based on the streets and houses that he knew as a child.  Having a critical attitude towards the extensive changes that were taking place, the real architectural spaces turned into mere abstract paintings which ultimately put an end to the series at the time.  Having spent a lot of time drawing figures, he then merged the two in 2005 and began to work on the current collection.  In this new collection, he depicts the urban scenes dazed and disoriented to show everyday life and the changes that the city and its people have to go through on a daily basis. 
One of the outstanding elements in Adambakan’s paintings is the well reflected upon usage of colors and lines.  They both have a similar trait but in some cases, lines get buried under layers of color.  The bold and colorful palette of his choice and the contrast and conflict that it represents more so reveals his outlook on these changes and is expressive of his critical spirit.  Using idiosyncratic colors, he doesn’t use photographs as a reference for these city icons and instead paints what has been imprinted in his mind following his daily sprees around the city.   
Born in 1976 in Tehran, Iran, Alireza Adambakan received his BA in painting in 1999 from Azad University (Tehran) and has participated in over 50 national and international exhibitions in addition to being exposed in several art fairs.  In addition to painting Adambakan teaches painting and has collaborated with several art magazines and newspapers as a researcher and writer.