As in other visual works by the artist, which simultaneously produce drawings and large-scale paintings, the whole of this diptych is occupied by bodies and faces, viewed from the front, profile, three-quarter or back. The high degree of accuracy in the rendered volumes, through the intersection of very fine hatchings, confers on the bodies an almost sculptural quality. Besides, each figure seems isolated within the multitude. They are juxtaposed with their glances never crossing nor their bodies touching. This silent group, constituted by several generations, conveys an ancient type of gravity. It becomes an allegory for an anonymous crowd, perhaps the Iranian people itself.
Ahmad Morshedloo observes and restores the states of immobility, of withdrawal within oneself, from a break in daily activities to the exile in the depth of sleep.
Here, the realism of the representation combines with the strangeness of a vision from a dream. Thus, the artist installs a set of mirrors, he duplicates some figures whose portraits become patterns. Indeed, he places half-naked bodies of men in the vicinity of bodies of women, occasionally very clothed. This underlines the difficulty for expressing intimate and singular matters in the public space. Thus, the strong luminosity, which weighs on the napes of the neck and forces the gazes down, could symbolize fate and resignation generated by the political climate. As if the true contents of the work were in this interstice between the virtuoso visual treatment of the surface and the depth of thoughts and emotions.
Irène Burkel
Translated by Valérie Vivancos
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