Farhad Moshiri

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the yellow is more of a lime-green yellow and the purple is closer to a soft pink-lavender. The catalogue illustration fails to fully capture the three-dimensional and textural quality of the white trim around the edges and to the decoration at the top centre of both panels. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is very light undulation along the right and left edges of both panels. In the lavender panel there are small fly spots towards the centre and lower left edge and a few scattered along the bottom edge towards the left corner. No restoration is apparent under ultra violet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

"To blur the boundaries between merchandizing and art making has become an essential part of my work.  Growing up in L.A., I was constantly forced to compare "High Art" and "Hollywood-style commoditization".  At one point, I gave up.  Let's be real.  As object makers, we're all packaging our ideas.  I just laugh when people criticize me for commodifying exoticism!"  Farhad Moshiri

One of the most talented of a new generation of Iranian artists, Farhad Moshiri follows in the footsteps of Jeff Koons and Mike Kelley in enlisting kitsch imagery as a form of visual satire, manipulating tensions between conventional notions of beauty and issues of presentation and communication in a world dominated by homogenising mass-media and popular culture. For Moshiri, this conceptual dynamism is the ideal metaphor for deeper cultural anomalies which arise when western culture is 'translated' for consumption in the Middle East. The present work comprises a monumental exhibition of mythical celebrity in the forms of President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie, who are both literally and metaphorically enthroned, and is the greatest achievement of Moshiri's project to date.

Moshiri's choice of subject matter is both powerful and subtle. For a newly liberated, media-friendly 1960s America, John and Jackie Kennedy were truly iconic, providing the vehicle for the hopes and dreams of an invigorated post-war nation. Seen in a modern Iranian context, however, these figures represent the glorification of western culture, known as Gharbzadegi, or 'western fetishism' that characterised the reign of the last Shah and Empress and involved a cult of personality modelled on the great leaders of the West. By pitching these competing interpretations of these infamous figures against each other, Moshiri's work creates a terrific tension between competing socio-cultural frames of reference.

The vastness of the JFK couple, themselves constituting a type of quasi-monarchy, broadcasts an unavoidable omnipresence, generating with scale what Andy Warhol achieved via replication in his celebrated 'Jackie' series of the early 1960s. The forms themselves are in fact modelled on salt and pepper shakers, thus casting the glamour of youthful political idealism with a strongly self-referential and post-modern inanity. This absurdity is compounded further by the irrelevance of JFK's high-minded domestic and foreign policies to the issues of a modern-day Iran in the twenty-first century. Thus Moshiri intelligently exploits this marriage between different socio-cultural priorities, wickedly contrasting conflicting expectations and enticing us to re-evaluate our presumptions.