REZA LAVASSANI

Wonder
30 September -19 October, 2011

Assar Art Gallery is pleased to announce Heyrat [Wonder]¹, an exhibition of new sculptures by Reza Lavassani.

Known for his paintings and enigmatic papier-mâché sculptures, Lavassani displays his own visualization of subjects inspired and taken from old stories, fables, symbols and poems rooted in Persian culture.  His work is heavily influenced by old literature and poetry and this fascination with the past, his sense of inventiveness and versatility has resulted in works of intense drawings, oil paintings and amazing sculptures throughout his career as an artist.

Imagination is Lavassani’s ultimate force at work and lines and drawings have a central role in everything that he creates.  Current social and popular topics have never been his concern but he focuses on interpreting his subjects in a contemporary way. He brings his poetic subjects from history and gives them a new aesthetic identity.

For the Heyrat series, Lavassani has devised five large-scale papier-mâché sculptures in the gallery that engage their dimensions and the stories they represent with the space and the audience.  Each of these sculptures is accompanied by a piece of poetry that has been the underlying inspiration to each sculpture.

In this exhibition we wish to explore the artist’s relationship to mystical notions that are the creation of Persian poetic imagination.  These notions are still very much present in the lives of Persian speakers as they are cultural codes inherited from history, geography, religion and philosophy.

Reza Lavassani primarily works through drawing.  His large collection of drawings has turned into oil paintings on canvas and some into sculptures that are mainly made with paper, a material he is fascinated by and is ethically attached to.

Reza Lavassani was born in 1962 in Tehran, Iran, where he lives and works.  His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions and he has taken part in many national and international group shows.  Additionally his work has been presented in numerous art fairs and has won several awards worldwide.

¹The sixth stage in seeking union with God in Islamic Mysticism (Sufism).