Transition

Azad Gallery is proud to announce "Transition," a solo exhibition of new works by Mohsen Mahmoodizadeh, on view from September 12. The exhibition presents a captivating new body of work that marks a pivotal period of change, reflecting both a shift in the artist's creative process and a personal transition in his life.

The exhibition's title, "Transition" (گذر), refers to a fundamental shift in Mahmoodizadeh's artistic trajectory. Moving away from the more objective and urban-focused works of his past collections like “The Road,” the artist now delves into more subjective, abstract, and imaginative landscapes. These new works are an exploration of "the familiar yet unfamiliar landscape," inspired by the natural world but transformed into imaginative, non-literal vistas. The artist's process of creation often involves deliberately removing elements, sometimes even urban features, to achieve a more contemplative and pristine visual space.

Mahmoodizadeh's new works are characterised by an expressive and liberated painterly style that contrasts with the more controlled, geometric brushwork of his previous periods. This expressive behavior is part of an intuitive process where the final outcome of a painting is unknown at the start. The works are imbued with a sense of "solitude" and "silence" that the artist finds difficult to articulate in words. This is a deliberate choice to express a quiet "in-between space," a feeling rarely found in daily life.

The exhibition embraces a compelling sense of ambiguity. Mahmoodizadeh finds the most engaging moments of his work in what appears to be "unfinished" sections of a painting—those moments that invite the viewer's mind to fill in the blanks. Heavily influenced by master painters such as Peter Doig and Claude Monet, Mahmoodizadeh uses his inspirations to forge a completely new artistic language, always striving to create a "fresh image". The artist's versatile use of both oil and acrylic paints, often combined within a single work, further enhances the richness and complexity of these pieces.