The Beatrice M. Haggerty Art Gallery in the Art History Auditorium is sporting a new look this month. From Mar. 28-Apr. 24, “Zahra Nazari–Between Walls: The Geometry of Emotion” will be on exhibition.
From the artist statement provided, we are told that “the exhibition explores the interplay of aesthetic traditions shaping the man-made world, and probes the complexities of their relationship to our spiritual selves. Nazari’s distinctive body of work examines these tensions through the lens of experiences in the United States and her native Iran.
“The exhibition showcases Nazari’s recent work that has developed explicitly inward-looking orientation. Her paints on mylar and canvas investigate the form, movement, and color of interior spaces–both physical and psychological–and embrace the infinite possibilities that are unlocked with even the subtlest shifts in mood or perspectives.”
Nazari was born in Hamedan, Iran but eventually moved to New York. Her art seeks to combine Persian and Western art, architecture and landscape in a futuristic style. In a past interview with Art Reveal Magazine, Nazari said, “to date, the majority of my work still has architectural themes; some more abstract than others. I’ve found that my new urban surroundings are also strongly influential.”
“Between Walls” contains 13 pieces of acrylic on canvas or mylar. The oldest, “The Countryside,” was painted in 2021, but most were done in 2023 and 2024. The art is bright, bold, with broad strokes of color and minimum definition. The “messy” finish of the pieces leaves room for the viewer to fill in the pieces. The names of the pieces are not even provided with the art, but are kept on a piece of paper off to the side.
For example, at first glance, art piece #3 is a collection of bright blues and reddish purples. Then your eye is drawn to the thinly outlined chandelier in the middle. From there you see the vaulted ceiling and huge windows and “The Great Room” is suddenly apparent.
There is a juxtaposition of hard line and multilayer pools that focus the exhibit into a fun and moving exploration of color and perception. One piece is a combination of an underground bunker and yelling face.
Another is eerily similar to a homeless encampment. A third is a hyper futuristic setting complete with advanced technological and geometric elements. There is even one that is barely recognizable as either landscape or human face, but the viewer is still captivated by the hues and shades of red and orange arranged.
However, those are more my personal encounters with the pieces. Nazari herself, in an interview with Art Spiel, said, “I started using cutaway devices to reveal the interior abstraction of buildings in my work. As a continued gesture of acknowledgement to these ancient designs of space within architecture, I started making work intended to be immersive. I wanted onlookers to feel a part of the pieces.”