This work, executed a year after the Iranian-born artist moved from Tehran to Paris, embodies the amalgam of national, religious, and personal mythologies that characterizes his practice. Its dense ornamentation reflects the motifs of vernacular prints and astrological talismans found in Tehran’s bazaars, as well as Shiite iconography and sacred calligraphy. The title’s string of letters and numbers, Zenderoudi has said, refers to “magical, Moslem religious symbols.” At the same time, he has described the work’s subject as depicting “my father and myself”; the artist is at left, arms raised and head lowered, while his father appears as a composite figure at right.
Zenderoudi was one of a group of artists who sought to develop a uniquely Iranian brand of modernism in the 1960s, one authentically local and not reliant on Western forms. The group was dubbed Saqqakhaneh—the Persian word for the decorated public water fountains that commemorate Shiite martyrs in Iran, which their works resemble. Though the artist’s visual references are culturally specific, his aims are universal. “Men the world over are identical and can all read my work,” Zenderoudi has said. “What matters is to achieve a harmony between the person who created it and the spectator.”
Publication excerpt from MoMA Highlights: 375 Works from The Museum of Modern Art, New York (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2019)
This work by Tehran-born artist Charles Hossein Zenderoudi, executed a year after he moved to Paris, embodies the amalgam of national, religious, and personal mythologies that characterizes his practice. Its dense ornamentation reflects the motifs of vernacular prints and astrological talismans found in Tehran’s bazaars, as well as Shiite iconography and sacred calligraphy. At the same time, Zenderoudi has described this work as a depiction of "my father and myself"; the artist appears at left, arms raised and head lowered, while his father appears as a composite figure at right. Zenderoudi was one of a group of artists dubbed Saqqakhaneh, who sought to develop a uniquely Iranian language of modernism in the 1960s. Though the artist’s visual references are culturally specific, his aims are universal. "Men the world over are identical and can all read my work," Zenderoudi once said. "What matters is to achieve a harmony between the person who created it and the spectator."
Gallery label from 2017.
