Dialogue: Shahpour Pouyan Marwan Sahmarani Dialogue: Shahpour Pouyan + Marwan Sahmarani
Dialogue: Shahpour Pouyan and Marwan Sahmarani is a two- person exhibition by Marwan Sahmaraniand Shahpour Pouyan specially commissioned for Volta 8, Basel. The exhibition is the culmination of a dialogue between the two artists who both draw on the past to demonstrate the timeless and cyclical nature of violence, weaving historical and cultural influence into their work to explore contemporary notions of power, war and death. Shahpour Pouyan and Marwan Sahmarani provide a prophetic and timely reminder of the recurrent wars and unrest in a region where conflict is a constant self-perpetuating reality. Whereas Shahpour draws from the culture and traditions of his own coun- try, Iran, Sahmarani references a broad sweep of art history, from the art of the Late Gothic and Western Renaissance period, to Expressionist and Action Painting.
For Volta 8 Sahmarani presents Huroub (wars), three new large- scale works on paper depictingfrenzied epic battle scenes in paint, ink, textile and charcoal. The works combine scenes from historical and contemporary warfare. Medieval villains with swords, spears, horses and medieval armour are intertwined with demonic figures in modern military outfits reminiscent of SS uniforms, all set against a cacophony of mutilated bodies. These are bold and beautiful images that capture a passion, energy and violence emblematic of both historical and contemporary acts of destruction. Juxtaposed against these paintings are Pouyan’s sus- pended Projectiles - sculptural installations of intricately decorat- ed armour and antique-style military helmets, which are symbols of dominance and power, but also of luxury and refinement. Shahpour Pouyan was born in 1979 in Isfahan, Iran and is cur- rently studying for a Masters of Fine Art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. He has a Masters in Fine Art (Painting) from Tehran University of Art and a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) from the University of Science and Culture. Pouyan is the recipient of the Tehran Contemporary Museum of Art’s grant of residence at International Cite Des Artes, Paris, France and has exhibited in various solo exhibitions in Tehran and Dubai and group shows in Paris, New York, Beirut, Canada and Serbia. Earlier works from his Projectiles series are found in important private collections in Istanbul, Hong Kong, Dubai and London.
Marwan Sahmarani was born in Lebanon in 1970, and currently lives and works in Beirut. He left Lebanon in 1989 and moved to Paris to study at l’École Supérieur d’Art Graphique. He has had solo exhibitions in Beirut, London, Montreal and Dubai and group exhibitions in Washington and Mexico. He has participated in a variety of group exhibitions including ‘Told/ Untold /Retold’ at Mathaf, Doha (2010), ‘All about Beirut’ at Kunsthalle whiteBOX, Munich (2010) and the ‘The Feast of the Damned’ at the Mu- seum of Art and Design, New York (2010). In 2010 Sahmarani was the recipient of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize and his work. ‘The Feast of the Damned’ was showcased at Art Dubai that year. His works form part of the permanent collection of Mathaf, Doha and Abraaj Capital, Dubai.
Shahpour Pouyan Projectile 6, 2012 Iron and brass Height 210 cm
Shahpour Pouyan Projectile 7, 2012 Iron and brass Height 210 cm
Shahpour Pouyan Projectile 8, 2012 Iron and brass Height 185 cm Marwan Sahmarani Huroub 5, 2012 Water color, ink, varnish, and oil stick and textile 140 x 200 cm
Marwan Sahmarani Huroub 3, 2012 Water color, ink, varnish, and oil stick and textile 140 x 200 cm
Marwan Sahmarani Huroub 6, 2012 Water color, ink, varnish, and oil stick and textile 140 x 200 cm
SHAHPOUR POUYAN
Born in Iran Lives and works in New York, U.S.A
EDUCATION 2011 MFA, Student Painting, Pratt Art Institute, NY, U.S.A 2007 MFA, Painting, Tehran University of Art, Tehran, Iran 2004 BFA, Painting, Art University, Tehran, Iran
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2011 Full Metal Jacket, LawrieShabibi Gallery, Dubai, U.A.E 2010 The Hooves, Sixty Six Art Gallery, Tehran, iran 2009 Bana Bar In, Nar Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2009 XVA Gallery Bastakia, Dubai, U.A.E. 2008 Towers, Ave Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2002 University of Science and Culture, Tehran, Iran 2002 Taranhane Azad Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2000 University of Science and Culture, Tehran, Iran
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2011 NYC Curate, Rush Gallery, New York, U.S.A. 2011 Artbeat Istanbul, Center Lutif Kirdar, Istanbul, Turkey 2011 Contemporary Sculpture and the Liability of Forms: The Expo 90, Tehran, Iran 2011 State Gallery of fine arts, Hyderabad, India 2010 Performance Box Curatorship, Mohsen Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2010 The Emerging Iranian Scene, The Running Horse Contemporary Art Space, Beirut, Lebanon 2010 Total Arts at The Courtyard, Dubai, U.A.E 2010 Sous Le Radar, JTM, Paris, France 2010 Under Radar Revelation, Sixty Six Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2010 1389, Azad Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2009 “Baz in che shouresh ast,” Video Project, Silk Road Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2009 1001 Colors, Canvas Gallery, New York, U.S.A. 2009 The 1st International RoamingBiennial of Tehran, themed Urban Jealousy, Magacin MKM, Belgrade, Serbia 2009 Auto Portraits, Azad Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2009 Nar Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2008 Third International Digital Miniprinte Exhibition- Le Centre d’artistes Voix Visuelle, Ottawa, Canada 2005 100 Paintings- 100 Painters, Golestan Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2004 Tehran Art Expose, Tehran, Iran 2003 Tehran Art Colleges Students’ Paintings, Niavaran Culture house Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2003 Teachers and Students of Science and Culture University, Bahman Art and Culture House, Tehran, Iran
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS 2011 Rami Farook, Dubai, UAE 2008 Zoroastrian Cultural Institute, Paris, France 2006 Fereydon Ave,Tehran, Iran 2003 Contemporary Museum of Art, Tehran, Iran
BIBLIOGRAPHY 2011 Ali Bakhtiari,”Path and Glory”, Contemporary Practices, 1 November 2011 Amy Sutcliffe,”Power Play”, Art In The City, 24 May 2011 Jyoti Kalsi”Allegory of Authority”, Gulf News, 13 May 2011 Charlie R Neyra, “Full Metal Jacket”, Khaleej Times. 29 April 2011 Jason Rezaian, “Inside Iran: The Art of Resistance”, Global Post, 19 April 2011 Ali Bakhtiari, “One to Watch”, Canvas Guide,16 April 2011 Chandana Khan, “An Art Bonanza”, Deccan Chronicle,7 March 2011 Ingo Arend, “It’s All About Change”, Nafas Art Magazine, February 2010 Bavand Behpour, “Matn va Tasvir”, Reviews.Behpour.com, November 2011 Joelle Zebouni, “L’Art sous l’ombrelle des Mollahs”,Femme Magazine, 15 October 2010 Daniel Barney, “Iranian artists portray life under regime”, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 September 2010 Maryam Dallal, “Insights from within the Iranian society”,Al Akhbar, Lebanon, 18 September 2010 Lucy Fielder, “Emerging form under the radar”,Now Lebanon, Lebanon 9 September 2010 Resha Almaleh, “Young artists in total art”, Albayan, Dubai 3 August 2010 Fatma Salem, “Pictures of the times”, Gulf News, Dubai 23 July 2009 Soheila Niakan, “Towers come behind you”, Hamshahri, Tehran ISSN 1735-6385 Vol.17, No.4843, 25 May 2009 Navid Farzi, “Interview with Shahpour Pouyan”, Roozan, Tehran No:1490, 11 May 2009 Muhammad Yusuf, “Talking towers”, The Gulf Today, Sharjah, 14 Feb 2009 Raziqueh Hussain, “Power and Glory,” Khaleej Times, Dubai, Vol. 20 February 2009 XPRESS, ”Controversial Towers”. Dubai, 5 February 2008 Aftab News, “Towers by Shahpour Pouyan” 25 November 2008 ISNA(Iranian Students News Agency), “Painting exhibition :Towers” Code: 8709-02577, 24 November 2006 IRNA (news agency) reported on my mural at Tehran Art University, 29 Apr
PUBLICATIONS 2010 “Emad Sculptures in Aun “, Reviews.Behpour.com, November, 2010 “Beheading in Tehran”( performance by Bita Fayyazi), http://www.iranartreview.com. 2008 “Critical Remarks on False Semantics”, in Tandis, Tehran,Jun.5, .p.26. 2007 “A Safe Space for Art”, Hamshahri, Tehran, Oct.9, .p.18. MARWAN SAHMARANI
Born 1970 Beirut, Lebanon Lives and Works in Beirut, Lebanon.
EDUCATION 1989 - 1994 l’École Supérieure d’Art Graphique Penninghen, Paris (France)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2011 Marie Marie, The Devil In Me Has Taken You For A Ride, Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Dubai, UAE 2011 The Wolf Is Crying Like A Child, Galerie Kashya Hildebrand, Zurich, Switzerland 2010 The Dictators: Studies For A Monument, Selma Feriani Gallery, London, UK 2010 The Feast of the Damned, Art Dubai, Abraaj Capital Art Prize, Dubai, UAE 2009 The Dictators: Studies for a Monument, Boutique 1 Gallery, Dubai, UAE 2007 Can You Teach Me How to Fight?, The Third Line Gallery, Dubai, UAE 2006 Paintings And Drawings (1990-2005), Mogabgab Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon 2006 Masturation, Ard Bia Gallery, Galway, Ireland 2005 Beirut el Koubra, Mogabgab Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon 2004 Mecca Cola, Clair Obscur, Montreal, Canada 2004 No-body, Mogabgab Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon 2003 Non-dit, Mogabgab Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon 2003 Non-dit, Alternative, Montreal, Canada 1997 Le Prophète, Mogabgab Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2011 The Changing Room: Arab Reflections On Praxis And Times, Spazio Qubi Gallery, Turin, Italy 2011 Heroes And Villains, Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Dubai, UAE 2011 Rebirth, Beirut Exhibition Centre, Beirut, Lebanon 2010 All About Beirut, Kunsthalle whiteBOX, Munich, Germany 2010 Convergence: New Art from Lebanon, American University Museum at the Katzen Art Center, Washington, D.C., USA 2007 Espejismos: Contemporary Art from Middle East and North Africa, International Festival of Puebla, Puebla, Mexico 2004 Pensées Et Measures, La Fabriq, Montreal, Canada 1994 Le Prophète, Espace E.S.A.G, Paris, France
AWARDS AND PRIZES 2010 Abraaj Capital Art Prize, Dubai, UAE
BIENNALES AND MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS 2010 Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2010, Museum of Art & Design, New York, NY, USA 2010 Told/Untold/Retold, Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar 2011 Between A Rock And A Hard Place, 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale, Greece 2011 Third Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art PUBLICATIONS Marwan Sahmarani in conversation with Mariam Hamdy, The Changing Room Project: Arab Reflections on Praxis and Times, Turin, Italy, 2011 (exhibition catalogue) Told/Untold/Retold: 23 Stories of Journeys Through Time and Space, Mathaf Arab Mu- seum of Modern Art, 2010 (exhibition catalogue) Marwan Sahmarani: Allegories In/Of Painting, Murtaza Vali, 2007 (exhibition catalogue)
SELECTED PRESS AND MEDIA Road to Dubai: Marwan Sahmarani, Simone Sebastian, Satellite Voices, February 2012 In the Belly of the Beast: Marwan Sahmarani’s Visual Mastery, Jareh Das, Mojeh, January 2012 A New Canvas, Jyoti Kalsi, Gulf News, December 2011 Marks of Being, Rebecca Anne Proctor, Canvas Guide, December 2011 Art & Artist: Marwan Sahmarani, Richard Labaki, Lifestyle Magazine Middle East, 2011 Voters Unanimous in Art Winner Choice, Alice Johnson, Gulf News, August 2010 The 2009 – 2010 Abraaj Capital Art Prize, Asmaa Al-Shabibi, Muraqqa Online, October 2009 Curators of Culture, Ed Lake, The National, September 2009 Art Takes Centre Stage, Khaleej Times, April 2009 The Dictators – Studies for a Monument, The Changing Room Project, 2009 A Prodigal Son Returns to Paint Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, The Daily Star, March 2006 Marwan Sahmarani The Indisputable Truth, Nada Al-Awar, Canvas, 2005 Al Serkal Avenue, unit 21, Al Quoz PO Box 123901 Dubai, UAE T +971 (0)4 346 9906 F +971 (0)4 346 9902 [email protected] www.lawrieshabibi.com