Scaffolding

Azad Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Taraneh Sadeghiyan's solo exhibition, "Scaffolding," on February 21, 2025. The exhibition will be on view through March 4, 2025.

Taraneh Sadeghiyan is a visual artist with a five-decade career dedicated to exploring social issues. Her latest collection, "Scaffolding," is a series of paintings and drawings depicting scaffolding structures at night on the streets of Tehran. The works evoke a sense of unease, portraying these structures as looming giants that obstruct the sky and overwhelm the city's inhabitants. The exhibition is a symbolic reflection on the destruction of urban identity and the pervasive sense of unease and anxiety that comes with it.

The exhibition's title, "Scaffolding" (Dar-bast), is a compound Persian word that originally referred to a structure used to help a fruitless tree grow. The artist uses this term to highlight the profound changes in the meaning of words, a concept influenced by the theories of Michel Foucault. In Sadeghiyan's work, the structures, once meant to support growth, now represent the psychological chaos of an unfinished, perpetually under-construction city.

Sadeghiyan's artistic approach is rooted in her long-standing social commitment. She was a student of Hannibal Alkhas, who championed the idea of an artist's social responsibility. For the past eight years, Sadeghiyan has also founded and led the "Gardoon" art group, which aims to connect directly with communities across Iran through art workshops and cultural events. This hands-on engagement with various communities has significantly shifted her artistic focus from historical and mythological themes to the social realities of contemporary Iran.

The paintings are characterized by an expressive, gestural brushwork and a dark, indistinct palette that intensifies the feeling of psychological disturbance and ambiguity. Some works feature lighting that suggests looking through tear-filled eyes, creating a liminal space between reality and nightmare. The artist explains that the works were created from a combination of on-site observation, photography, and studio work, reflecting her mental and visual memory of the city.