Arte Contemporáneo: Asia, Australia y el Pacífico
Centro Cultural La Moneda
Santiago, Chile
2019
Garden Nights
Embroidery on polyester velvet
26 banners, Dimensions vary with installation
This velvet banners are inspired by the flags displayed in Iran during annual Ashura festivities, when the Shiite population mourns the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad. Iman Raad works with craftspeople in the city of Mashhad, who adopt and transform his drawings into decorated embroidered banners that celebrate and mourn life and death in all its form. Raad’s practice is informed by a belief in the central role of vernacular art forms to the wider history of art.
Read more HERE about Days of Bliss and Woe and Garden Nights by Ellie Buttrose, Associate Curator, International Contemporary Art, QAGOMA.
Image courtesy CCLM and Iman Raad
Days of Bliss and Woe: Mars Stage
528 x 144 in (1340 x 366 cm), Acrylic and varnish on plywood and timber
Iman Raad combines local references such as Persian miniature painting, illuminated manuscripts, folk arts, Islamic architecture and with contemporary subject matter to create his mural-like installations. Using a vivid, high key palette, altered perspective, and repetition that mimics digital glitches, the result is a riot of colour and movement that is both seductive and unsettling. Traditionally ornamental elements such as birds, fruits and flowers are recalibrated into subjects that carry narrative import and are given animate, unnatural presences. These are intertwined with social events and historical moments rendered in fantastical ways to draw in the viewer.
Read more HERE about Days of Bliss and Woe and Garden Nights by Ellie Buttrose, Associate Curator, International Contemporary Art, QAGOMA.
Image courtesy CCLM and Iman Raad