Whitehot Magazine
"The Best Art In The World"
Nastaran Shahbazi, Sweet Oranges, 2024, oil on canvas, 64 x 102 inches, 162 x 260 cm. All images courtesy of The Hole Gallery
By MYLES FUCCI July 22, 2024
It was a hot, muggy, and sweaty day when I entered the Hole gallery to meet with my friend Robert Curcio to view Shahbazi’s work. I quickly patted the sweat off my head, and decided to walk into the gallery and immediately went to grab a drink to help cool myself down. After I had my tasty sangria in hand, I decided to start pursuing the art and see what I could find. Before I allowed myself to find any favorites, I did a lap around the gallery to see what piqued my interest. Immediately, I observed that some of the walls were painted gray. This choice accentuated her artwork, making certain pieces stand out more while contributing to a calm and neutral atmosphere that enhanced the overall feel of her creations. On the note of neutrality, I also noticed most of the figures' faces in almost all of the pieces had either neutral or soft expressions which may be added to the softness present in most of her pieces.
Most of the pieces were in a natural state of juxtaposition due to Shahbazi’s use of vibrant and bright colors to draw the viewer in. However, the faces of the characters within her pieces had a more melancholic and anonymous tone. In her piece, Sweet Oranges she showcases a scene at a picnic where a group of people are seated on a large blanket, while a woman to the right is standing next to them holding a wooden basket of oranges. The additional figure in the back of the piece appears to be wandering off into the distant background. I was transfixed by this even more anonymous figure, fleeting from the present scene and gently wandering into the distance. This character and the one present in By The Apple Tree seem to represent the memory of loved ones leaving our mind over the course of time. These two pieces in particular made me reflect and ponder on how our brain chooses to remember the people we hold space and memories for.
Nastaran Shahbazi, Blue Lobster, 2024, Oil on canvas, 35 x 46 inches, 89 x 116 cm.
As we move through life, we gain and lose memories of the people we love. Yet, we still feel their presence, even if it is not always entirely discernible, like the distant figures in Shahbazi’s pieces. I also noticed that most of the characters were set in more intimate scenes and seemed to be moving in all different directions. In Shahbazi’s piece In The Red Room, the dancers seem to move both closer to the viewer and away from them simultaneously. Shahbazi mentions that movement and motion are key features of her work, and this piece clearly intertwines both. The characters dancing toward and away from the frame symbolize how we utilize and perceive memories. Memories exist in a constant state of fading consciousness, becoming clear at certain moments and then quickly fading away. The dancers, painted in bright reds and pinks, highlight the positive associations and beauty within a memory, while the shadowy figures in the background, depicted in darker colors, suggest the sadness that accompanies fading memories over time.This theme is also evident in her other work Blue Lobster, which depicts a busy restaurant scene. Here, the background characters, out of focus, appear to be dancing at dusk. The main character in the piece solemnly waits for her food from the waitress, while even the characters closer to the canvas fade out of focus.
Nastaran Shahbazi, By The Apple Tree, 2024, oil on canvas, 79 x 71 inches, 200 x 180 cm.
Through her pieces, Shahbazi is not just painting but also telling a story about the function of memory. Most work that I’ve seen in the past involving themes of memory, never felt as personal as this collection of pieces. Shahbazi hit the nail right on the head with all of these because of their personal and intimate ties with her memories and experiences, yet still function in a way that can be universally applicable to different audiences that view her work. After viewing the pieces for a while, I felt swells of emotions and thought of my own personal “snapshot like” memories that move through my mind on a daily basis but quickly fade as other thoughts rush in. The figures in the pieces remind me of my loved ones through the use of different colors, proximity, and clarity. Shahbazi understands that the mind chooses at will to temporarily hold on to memories of people, places, and things that are inextricably meaningful to ourselves in some way. To recognize a memory and the feeling it provides is essential to what makes us human beings. Shabazi’s work is a blissful reminder to relish in the temporary moments we consciously or subconsciously choose to preserve. WM
Myles Fucci is currently attending NYU's Visual Art Administration Program and posts regularly about art & art-related events on his page @leauxreview on IG & Substack
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