Staff Report, "Y.Z. Kami - Endless Prayers at Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art" - Art Daily - USAFriday, November 21, 2008
London: Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art presents the first solo exhibition of paintings and works on paper by the Persian born artist Y.Z. Kami, titled Endless Prayers.
This group of works has been created over the past ten years and will be shown for the first time in the UK.
The most striking works in this exhibition are undoubtedly Y.Z. Kami's large and frontal painted portraits of ordinary people, each of whom entirely fills the canvas, often measuring three metres by two metres. Despite their imposing size and intense presence, these portraits are neither flattering nor psychological; rather, they depict the subjects as they are, absorbed in their own world.
This characteristic together with their fresco-like quality, executed using a special painting technique, endows the figures with a certain lack of materiality resembling the Fayum portraits which were painted to accompany Egyptian mummies in their graves.
In some of the paintings the eyes of the subjects are closed, but in others they are open and they gaze either inwardly or at a fixed point in the distance. In most cases it is difficult to establish eye contact and each painted figure seems to carry its own distinct history within itself.
The same frontality and detachment is prevalent in Y.Z. Kami's monumental photographs of Islamic sites and architecture. For Y.Z. Kami, architecture, like human beings, speaks of its own history and at times he combines architecture with portraits of people to create some poignant works, such as Dry Land, 1994-2004 and Konya, 2007.
The exhibition will also feature Y.Z. Kami's works on paper, entitled Endless Prayers. These works are made by gluing countless minute brick-shaped cut-outs from poetry and prayer texts on to the canvas often in circular arrangements, but also according to some Islamic architectural detailing of domes.
The circular and spiralling patterns are inspired by the whirling motions in the rituals of dervishes found in the Mawlavi order of Sufism, who profess that the act of spinning undoes the ego, cleanses them of the self and finds the sole unity of God.
The Mawlavi order of Sufism was founded by the thirteenth century Persian poet, Rumi, whose work has played an important role in Y.Z. Kami's life and work since he began studying it as a young man. The work entitled Konya, 2007, was made in homage to the poet and bears the name of the town where Rumi spent his last years of life, died and has today his mausoleum.
Y.Z. Kami was born in 1956 in Tehran, Iran, and now lives and works in New York.
London: Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art presents the first solo exhibition of paintings and works on paper by the Persian born artist Y.Z. Kami, titled Endless Prayers.
This group of works has been created over the past ten years and will be shown for the first time in the UK.
The most striking works in this exhibition are undoubtedly Y.Z. Kami's large and frontal painted portraits of ordinary people, each of whom entirely fills the canvas, often measuring three metres by two metres. Despite their imposing size and intense presence, these portraits are neither flattering nor psychological; rather, they depict the subjects as they are, absorbed in their own world.
This characteristic together with their fresco-like quality, executed using a special painting technique, endows the figures with a certain lack of materiality resembling the Fayum portraits which were painted to accompany Egyptian mummies in their graves.
In some of the paintings the eyes of the subjects are closed, but in others they are open and they gaze either inwardly or at a fixed point in the distance. In most cases it is difficult to establish eye contact and each painted figure seems to carry its own distinct history within itself.
The same frontality and detachment is prevalent in Y.Z. Kami's monumental photographs of Islamic sites and architecture. For Y.Z. Kami, architecture, like human beings, speaks of its own history and at times he combines architecture with portraits of people to create some poignant works, such as Dry Land, 1994-2004 and Konya, 2007.
The exhibition will also feature Y.Z. Kami's works on paper, entitled Endless Prayers. These works are made by gluing countless minute brick-shaped cut-outs from poetry and prayer texts on to the canvas often in circular arrangements, but also according to some Islamic architectural detailing of domes.
The circular and spiralling patterns are inspired by the whirling motions in the rituals of dervishes found in the Mawlavi order of Sufism, who profess that the act of spinning undoes the ego, cleanses them of the self and finds the sole unity of God.
The Mawlavi order of Sufism was founded by the thirteenth century Persian poet, Rumi, whose work has played an important role in Y.Z. Kami's life and work since he began studying it as a young man. The work entitled Konya, 2007, was made in homage to the poet and bears the name of the town where Rumi spent his last years of life, died and has today his mausoleum.
Y.Z. Kami was born in 1956 in Tehran, Iran, and now lives and works in New York.
Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art is an independent educational charity devoted to promoting contemporary art for the benefit of the public. Visit Parasol's website at: http://www.parasol-unit.org/ .
[Picture: Y. Z. Kami, Endless Prayers V, 2007, Mixed media on paper, 115.6 x 83.8 cm (45 1/2 x 33 in), Collection of Susan and John Hess, New York. Photography: Rob McKeever.].
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