The largest most breathtaking work Echo, 2013, evokes an expansive body of water. Numerous shades of blue shimmer through the canvas like the dappling surface of the ocean. Hues of aquamarine, purple, gray, and green are seamlessly woven into the fabric of the painting. The illusion of an aerial view is created through the subtle manipulation of color and tone, such that there is a constant play of light that radiates from various points and illuminates the entire canvas. A thick black jagged line that resembles the edge of a landmass severs the painting into two. Houshiary uses this device to map the perceptual space in the work, while emphasizing the materiality of its physical qualities and the aesthetic dimensions of this same surface.

The viewer is drawn to her signature web of fine lines that seem almost embroidered rather than meticulously hand painted. On closer inspection, a veil stretches over each canvas that gives the work its delicacy and beauty. Influenced by Islamic architecture and its interlacing patterns, Houshiary’s all over filigree-like design serves a deeper transcendental purpose. The translucent gossamer both obscures and directs the viewers’ eyes towards a deeper metaphysical space. One is induced into a meditative trance by the prismatic effect of the colors and the intricate decorative element. These qualities seem to highlight the recurring presence of the infinity of time and space in her works.

In Ode, 2013, and Vertigo, 2013, also constructed in a similar vein with alluring veils and birds-eye-perspectives, Houshiary shapes the mood of her paintings through her choice of colors.  Varied saturations of purple give Ode a more somber feel, while a lighter palette of sky blues and violets provide Vertigo with an ethereal tonality.  Much like Mark Rothko’s abstractions, Houshiary’s use of color fields and flat surfaces make the paintings vibrate with emotional depth and create contemplative moments.

Shirazeh Houshiary, Dust, (still frame), 2011-2013. Digital animation run time: 7 minutes, 8 seconds. Edition of 6. Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong.

Her video installation titled Dust, 2011-13, is made up of burning candles that form a grid against a backdrop of ivory travertine. Wafts of soot become amorphous fragile clouds before they disappear and reappear to take new shapes and patterns. The slow, almost imperceptible movement of veils of soot against the pale limestone reveals the gradual transience of time, and the yin and yang of opposites—black fleeting soot against the permanence of solid white stone. The accompanying soundtrack of a violin combined with the hypnotic incantation of a chant mesmerizes the viewer.  Houshiary demonstrates her ease with various mediums as she deftly combines different artistic traditions.

The sculptures in the gallery made from bright, anodized aluminum bricks differ from the paintings in their sturdy sinuous forms and muscular armature. A sense of rhythm and movement emanates from the curvatures and the arrangement of varied shades of bricks. Although less appealing than their two-dimensional counterparts, these large works complement the paintings in the gallery.

At the end, Houshiary succeeds in making the viewer believe that if art is to remain an important entity it has to go beyond daily existence.  It must rise above culture and creed in order to resonate with the human soul.

By Bansie Vasvani

The post The Eye Fell in Love with the Ear by Shirazeh Houshiary appeared first on NY Arts Magazine.

Image courtesy of Lisson Gallery

Featuring: Art & Language, Tony Cragg, Angela de la Cruz, Richard Deacon, Ceal Floyer, Ryan Gander, Shirazeh Houshiary, Peter Joseph, Anish Kapoor, John Latham, Richard Long, Jason Martin, Haroon Mirza, Jonathan Monk, Julian Opie, Richard Wentworth

Lisson Gallery
Nostalgic for the Future
November 15, 2013 – January 11, 2014
27 Bell Street
London
lissongallery.com

The post Nostalgic for the Future at Lisson Gallery appeared first on NY Arts Magazine.

Shirazeh’s work for the 55^th Biennale di Venezia, Breath is a collateral event housed in La Torre di Porta Nuova. Built between 1809 and 1814 to enable the mechanical placement of masts onto ships, it is a building of almost ecclesiastically monumental proportions and presence. Breath is a four channel video and sound installation that features soft but captivating voices.

There is one chant for each of four major religious traditions: Buddhist, Christian, Jewish and Islamic. The work’s positioning couldn’t be more fortuitous. The two, looking out together over the water, enhance each other perfectly.

From the outside Breath announces itself as an immense fabric box. Made from black felt, its sides soar upwards as far as the archway it inhabits. Sunlight beams down from above onto its muted surface. At the front there is a shoulder width gap through which it is clear the viewer is invited to enter. Visibility is limited as one passes down a short, narrow passage. There is very little light either natural or artificial, only that which seeps in from outside

Inside is an intimate, square space. As my retinas adjust to near darkness, four small video screens slowly become apparent at eye level. The sound that welcomes me is an enticing, but unclear overlaying of four different incantations. As I approach each screen in turn, one of the four chants becomes more clear, but it is never possible to hear one without registering the other three. The sounds are fused together, inherently inseparable before they reach the ear. The source of the audio is lost somewhere in the darkened space. Do they originate from the ear, the brain, or in the space between the speakers and myself? Like the breath, these sounds are hardly tangible. No sooner are they perceived than they are gone, transformed into something else.

On the screens I see what appear to me as specks of light floating and pulsating in abstract, centrifugal formations. Their movement evokes something of the astronomical realm. It’s almost as though I’m outside the universe looking in, watching it in miniature, expanding and contracting. The spaces between the dashes of light grow larger and then smaller again.

Involuntarily I throw my head back and look up as one might beneath the dome of a cathedral. In the semi-darkness I can’t make out an ending to this temporary vaulted structure. The four black walls fly upwards into an apparent infinity. The space has no edges, as if there were no limit to its bounds.

What I find most compelling is that this work seems to point towards commonality and that energetic oneness that permeates every being, living and nonliving. It is something of a surprise that Shirazeh Houshiary’s Breath should find itself at la Biennale di Venezia—the home of competitive, jingoistic individuation.

So subtle is this work, and so persuasive, that I begin to question the wisdom of the Biennale’s artistic nationalism. At a time when borders are in a constant state of actual, philosophical, and metaphorical transgression, and the transfer of communication and knowledge take place almost exclusively via a rhizomatic hyper-network, the notion of a meaningful space existing for national pavilions begins to seem absurd.

By Beverly Knowles

The post Shirazeh Houshiary’s Breath At the 55th Biennale di Venezia appeared first on NY Arts Magazine.