Leila Heller Gallery presents ‘Silence of the Night,’ an exhibition by Reza Derakshani

Posted on August 28, 2012 by

‘Silence of the Night’

Reza Derakshani

Sep. 6- Oct. 6

Leila Heller is pleased to present Silence of the Night, a solo exhibition of 10 sand paintings and an installation by the visual artist and musician Reza Derakshani, on view at Leila Heller Gallery, located at 568 West 25th Street, from September 6 through October 6, 2012. A catalogue, featuring an essay by Negar Azimi, Senior Editor of Bidoun magazine, will be published to accompany the show.

 
Reza Derakshani is internationally recognized and lauded for his fearless exploration of form and style. His works are known for their monumental scale, and their embodiment of poetry and lyricism, each cast in an ongoing array of materials that include oil, tar, gold and silver leaf, enamel, glitter, soil and sand. Inspired both by his cultural heritage and the international contemporary movements, Derakshani often highlights the beauty and the splendor as well as the sinister side of a politically tumultuous country.


Silence of the Night marks a significant turn for Derakshani. Rather than highlighting land and culture by using vibrant colors, lyrical imagery and words, the artist now employs a strict palette of mostly black and white, and applies limited mediums of sand, soil, and enamel. “These tableaus,” as Negar Azimi writes in the catalogue essay, “communicate a vast emptiness, a void, and even, in the darkest moments, death.” This new body of work acts as a memorial to the transience of nationhood and home. Persian Iconography– roses, nightingales, the Shiro o Korshid (an ancient symbol of national dignity, power and light), the Peacock Throne, the map of Iran –rendered in black sand, act as an embodiment of mourning and as a commemoration of a land and culture that once was.
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