LOS ANGELES — Through the Chilly Struggle, the CIA secretly bankrolled cultural initiatives selling Summary Expressionism as a shining instance of American freedom and democracy. In the meantime, it backed a coup that toppled the democratic authorities of Iran, artist Farshid Bazmandegan’s residence nation. These incongruent actions by our authorities within the mid-Twentieth century kind the start line for Bazmandegan’s solo exhibition, Drifting in Between, at Monitor 16 Gallery.
The artist focuses on just a few key supplies: emergency blankets, tar, and metal oil barrels. These supplies reference the displacement and human price of our authorities’s actions throughout the globe, in addition to the pure assets that drive a lot of our international coverage. Certainly, one of many main causes for the 1953 coup was to guard British oil pursuits in Iran.
The flattened metal oil drum in “Untitled” (2022) mimics the proportions and form of a flag with three horizontal stripes. It’s a darkly humorous commentary on how, within the eyes of some governments, total nations might be decreased to the assets that may be extracted from them. The floor of the drum is roofed with scratches and scuff marks, maybe symbolizing the human price of such abstractions or the tarnishing of a nation’s picture left in its harmful wake.
“Panorama of Exile” (2024), like many works on this exhibition, begins with a gold-coated emergency blanket that has been adhered to a tar-covered wooden panel. Bazmandegan burned components of the piece, melting the shimmering gold of the blanket so the tar bubbles as much as reveal a deep black, painterly floor; different components of the work have been painted in numerous blues and reds. If it had been simply paint on canvas, this work may have simply been made by a midcentury American summary painter.
These modestly scaled works, that are materially seductive and elegantly made, would do nicely in a industrial artwork setting. This solely heightens the sense of cognitive dissonance in Bazmandegan’s work. The historical past of portray is crammed with artists who weave collectively discordant and even contradictory types, shapes, or colours right into a single picture. The artist expands this concept past formal relationships to incorporate the duplicity of so-called democratic nations performing in service of capitalism’s insatiable urge for food for assets.
By deliberately making work like this (two bigger, much less salable sculptural installations are additionally within the exhibition), and by connecting the language of Summary Expressionism with the 1953 coup, Bazmandegan connects the artwork trade with geopolitics, urging us to look at the methods through which we, individually and collectively within the artwork trade, may also be implicated in an advanced negotiation of denial and strategic ignorance. (As if to drive this level residence, Trump not too long ago introduced that he has chosen John Phelan, a serious donor to his marketing campaign and a Whitney Museum trustee, as his choose to function Secretary of the Navy.)
On my extra cynical days I see the artwork trade as one other device to create and protect the wealth and legacies of plutocrats. However by my engagement with the humanities I’ve additionally discovered an intellectually partaking panorama and a few really great folks. What’s the function of an artist working in a damaged trade, entangled and complicit in each magnificence and a number of overlapping dangerous programs? Bazmandegan’s work presents no solutions, however he provides the viewer an area to see and ponder among the contradictions which might be endemic to up to date life.
Farshid Bazmandegan: Drifting in Between continues at Monitor 16 Gallery (1206 Maple Avenue, Suite 100, Trend District, Los Angeles) by December 21. The exhibition was organized by the gallery.
