Event 2: Contemporary Art of the Middle East at LACMA

Me outside the LACMA

For my second event, I attended the 'Contemporary Art of the Middle East' exhibit at LACMA. This exhibition was very personal to me because many of the works are from Iran. As an Iranian-American, I found myself relating to the works as they gave me insight into the changing cultural and artistic landscape in Iran.








I was pleasantly surprised to find works that played off of themes we have learned in the lecture portion of this class; specifically, many of the works illustrated an interplay between MedTech + Art, and Mathematics and Art.

Ahmed Mater, Saudi Arabia
"Illumination Diptych (Ottoman Waqf)"

This was the first piece I encountered in the Islamic Art exhibit. I was shocked to see an X-Ray image of a skeleton surrounded by Arabic text and traditional Middle Eastern designs. After looking up the artist, I found that he is a medical doctor and an artist who commonly uses medical instruments to explore contemporary Saudi Arabian sociopolitical life. It was interesting to see a topic we had talked about during lecture, namely how X-Ray images are being used by artists, manifest itself in an artist/doctor from across the world.

Iman Safei, Iran
"Sepeleshk"

Another artwork that really grabbed my eye was the iron sculpture 'Sepeleshk,' which roughly translates to the phrase  'no way' in English. In Persian culture, calligraphy and beautiful writing in general are very commonplace and highly prized. The Persian alphabet (similar to Arabic text) itself is prized for its beauty. I was drawn to this piece because it related to the Mathematics + Art lecture we covered earlier this quarter. Safaei's sculpture is extremely precise: each letter of the word is the same length as every other letter. He has broken down the basic mathematical elements of what make calligraphy so beautiful and applied them to this sculpture. I was also especially drawn to the shadow on the wall created by the light hitting the sculpture (on the right). To me, this was very beautiful and illustrated the intersection between how simple geometric shapes (math), when hit at certain angles (physics), can result in beautiful and ever-changing/kinetic art.

Iman Safei, Iran
"Sepeleshk"

Overall, I really enjoyed my time in this exhibit. The interplay between science and art was present in many of the works, but mostly, it was an experience that felt like home to me.

Link to Event:
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/islamic-art-now-contemporary-art-middle-east


References:

 Linda Komaroff. Part 2: Contemporary Art of the Middle East. Los Angeles: Linda Komaroff, 2016. Print.

Mater, Ahmed. Ahmed Mater. Web. 18 May 2016. <http://ahmedmater.com/artwork/>.

 Iman Safaei. Shiringalleryny.com. Shirin Gallery. Web. 17 May 2016. <http://shiringalleryny.com/artists/iman-safaei/>.

Vesna, Victoria. "Medtech and Art." UCLA. Los Angles, CA. 10 Apr 2016. Web. 17 May 2016.

 Mater, Ahmed. "Edge Of Arabia - Contemporary Art and Creative Movements from the Arab World." Edgeofarabia.com. Web. 18 May 2016.