Los Angeles-based Iranian contemporary art platform ADVOCARTSY presents ALIENATION, a solo exhibition of works by Foroozan Shirghani.
In this exhibition, Shirghani explores the themes of displacement and manipulation as part of the human condition and our social identity across cultures. After Shirghani immigrated to the United States in 2015, her work became more focused on the psychological and physical effects of a hostile environment, both internally and externally. In her paintings, light is the only source of hope in an apocalyptic world, highlighting the fragility of the realms she creates.
ALIENATION is Foroozan Shirghani’s first solo exhibition with ADVOCARTSY and in the United States since her immigration to the US in 2015.
All are welcome to attend the public opening for ALIENATION at ADVOCARTSY’s West Hollywood gallery on Thursday, March 30th, 2023, from 7-9 pm. The artist, Foroozan Shirghani, and ADVOCARTSY founder and director, Roshi Rahnama, will be present. No appointment will be necessary.
Exhibition Programming
Artist Talk + Closing Reception
Saturday, April 29th, 2023, from 2 – 5 pm – Artist Talk @ 3 pm
Foroozan Shirghani will be in discussion with Roshi Rahnama about her practice and the spaces created in the exhibition. All are welcome to attend.
Artist Statement
This collection is about alienation – expressing constantly changing, fragmented lives. The figurations in this collection are an allegory to social pressures and psychological traumas, caused either by the endless drudgery of work or by the socio-political ruling systems. Alienation is usually an inevitable consequence of these bureaucracies and leads to distortion and deformation of human personality and life.
I address this situation by compressing and homogenizing my subjects and by placing them in an apocalyptic world where place, time, and even the very appearance of humanity undergo drastic changes. People gradually become alienated from others as well as from themselves and this leads to even more isolation and loneliness. I explore the irreversible psychological damage of force caused by twisting my subjects with fear, isolation, anger, despair, and eventually obedience. Consequently, in some of my works the figures take refuge in buildings that have no comfort and vast emptiness, only a decaying surveillance site. Here time has lost its credibility and value and the only source of hope is scant rays of light among the shadows.
The initial idea of this collection was formed shortly after I immigrated to the States in 2015. I felt a sort of amputation from my homeland and a kinship with the crushed plastic water bottles that I used to line up on my desk every day. The bottles were pressed and deformed easily just like a person under pressure and that was the beginning of an ongoing experiment with various mediums to discover the potential of this symbolic form of the critical and fragile human condition.
About the Artist
Foroozan Shirghani born in Iran (1981) is a multidisciplinary artist who received her BFA from Tehran Azad Art University in 2004 and her MFA from Alzahra University in 2008. She served as a lecturer and art instructor at the Share Rey Azad university and Shariati University in Tehran between 2008 to 2015. Her work has been featured in over sixty exhibitions worldwide and featured in numerous publications. She has been living and working in Los Angeles since 2015.
Shirghani’s work stems from her personal experiences and focuses on psychological and socio-political issues, especially identity boundaries. Her art explores universal themes of displacement, alienation, and loss and pressure exerted on the human body by these forces. She addresses these life-altering situations by fragmenting, deforming, and often destruction of her subjects and mediums. In her work, objects have a symbolic nature expressing social behaviors.
Shirgani works across mediums, including painting, drawing, ceramic sculptures, abstract video, and textiles.
General Information
Public Opening: Thursday, March 30th, 2023, 7 – 9 pm
Artist Talk + Closing Reception: Saturday, April 29th, 2023, 2 – 5 pm (Talk @3pm)
Exhibition Dates: March 30th, 2023 – April 29th, 2023
Gallery hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11-5 pm or by appointment.
For more information or to request a preview catalogue, email info@advocartsy.com.
About ADVOCARTSY
Launched in 2015, ADVOCARTSY is a contemporary art platform specializing in Iranian contemporary art. In June of 2021, ADVOCARTSY expanded gallery operations with a new exhibition space in West Hollywood.
