Mohsen Gallery Presents Night Hag
The gallery’s current exhibition features a trio of Iranian artists revealing works that are at once frivolous and frightening
Three young Iranian artists, Milad Jahangiri, Soheil Mokhtar and Nahid Behboodian, explore nature, history, intuition and narrative in Night Hag, a group show currently on display at Mohsen Gallery in Tehran. The exhibition is anchored by five sculptures and features paintings and works on paper by these three emerging artists.
Milad Jahangiri’s On the Bed of the Dead Tree offers an exquisite meditation on nature and human folly. On view are six paintings on canvas and wood, and four drawings on cardboard – diverse media emphasising the unrestrained character of nature. Detailed but dreary, these works depict Jahangiri’s remorse at the impact of human callousness on the vibrant gifts of nature. His greatly textured, nuanced works feature dense trees and defined bushes that are layered with greys, blues and greens to an unsettling effect, while the fluid, expressive brushstrokes lend a calming effect. There’s depth and mystique in his landscapes that invite a closer, more concerted look.
Soheil Mokhtar’s self-reflective body of work incorporates mixed media on cardboard. The eight paintings on view are part of the artist’s Detachment series and offer a keen exploration of intuition and its different interpretations. Mokhtar uses a wondrous, colourful palette comprising pink, purple, green and blue tones with jagged black lines and scribbling in order to depict his journey on the way to self-illumination.
In Sepulcher, Nahid Behboodian offers 12 sculptures made of papier-mâché and 11 drawings on cardboard, all connotative depictions of monkeys and plants. There’s versatility in the sculptures and the use of papier-mâché is deliberate, its light weight quality accentuates the playful and frivolous appeal of Behboodian’s subjects. The artist’s works are untitled, as are those of Jahangiri and Mokhtar, which allows the viewer’s imagination to wander inviting them to draw their own conclusions.
Night Hag runs till 9 August at Mohsen Gallery in Tehran, Iran. Mohsengallery.com