Marching

Amir-Hossein Zanjani
November 23  —  December 14, 2018
-1 × UndergroundGF × Ground Floor

Similar to his earlier series, Amir-Hossein Zanjani presents a painterly narrative of the image of power by portraying militarism in his new series of works, which is the simultaneous representation of power and desperation. With expressionistic brushstrokes and colors, he depicts obvious and concealed figures in military clothes; however, some of these figures are dominant and triumphant while others seem to be defeated. In this series, Zanjani makes us encounter the contrast and division between figures in uniforms. He also makes us question the integrity of power. He seems to be referring to a relation hidden behind a veil of militarist authority that has compromised its unity and integrity, divided into two groups, one on top and one at the bottom. Soldiers are ready to obey their powerful commanders; their eyes, however, have lost their brightness and liveliness. Some of them are covered under extended stains with the same color as their uniforms. Zanjani’s works represent the continuity of human conflict and the inevitable surrender of man in the face of authority. The artist has a different, or perhaps paradoxical, approach to the nature of militarist power. In order to create his parody, he makes use of more or less familiar images of historical militarism, from the east to the west, from Franco and the Third Reich to the armies of the Eastern Bloc. Because of the extensive damages in the images of men of arms that are either saluting or vacantly staring into a doomed destiny, Zanjani makes it difficult for us to make judgments or come to quick conclusions. It is perhaps due to the fact that his works create a world that is replete with excited, euphoric, and accentuated brushstrokes.

Series