Shahpour Pouyan

Acquired directly from the artist in 2008

This work is in very good condition. The canvas is slacking, especially on the right edge area where it has left a hairline dent that can easily be erased when restretching the canvas. Colours: The colours in the catalogue illustration are accurate, with the overall hues being softer and deeper in the original work.
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With Anoushirvan Grave from his Tower and Tombs series, Shahpour Pouyan's power is evoked through his recollection of ruins. Pouyan has been largely affected by his extensive travels throughout Iran. While wandering through towns and meandering down streets, it was the phallic symbolism that he drew from Iranian architecture that fascinated him. “This has been a patriarchal society throughout its history. I found these phallic forms which seem to be assaulting the landscape, emphasizing the culture of an era that lives in the past.” The possibility of allegory in unleashing hidden or unspoken meaning inspired Pouyan to paint his Towers series. “I find architecture the most important visual expression of a civilization. In Islamic art the figurative aspect is omitted and instead it is the abstract elements, such as minarets, which carry symbolic value in architecture.” (Exhib. Cat., Dubai, Lawrie/Shabibi Gallery, Shahpour Pouyan, 18 April - 8 June 2011, n.p.)

Brought up in Isfahan, as a child Pouyan was enchanted by the ornaments and decoration of classical Iranian art and architecture. His study of the art of miniature painting was a great influence on his Towers series, with these black and white compositions displaying a strong relationship with the traditional portrayal of gardens and architectural scenes in Iranian miniatures.

Pouyan’s excellence as an artist lies in his sophisticated ability to imbue the inanimate subjects of his art with a sense of human personality; he brings the constructions of civilisation to life, as conscious, feeling monuments which reflect the sensibilities of their makers - their human desires and fears. He is able to lay claim to what he sees and to conjure a new meaning in it, so that his artworks heave with fresh significance and, in this instance, subdued eroticism.