Fidelity is staying true to and striving for the permanence of truth, when the subject realizes the true moment of change, the true moment of revolution, and the true moment of the purity of a thought. Fidelity is the attitude of the subject, here the political subject in particular, to an event. Through an action and by his own willfulness, a loyal person regards the moment of truth beyond the immediate pragmatic politics of his time as he becomes a wave against the sea. “Fidelity: Names of Politics” is title of Amirhossein Bayani’s painting series, in which he has paid tribute to the memory of ten people who had remained faithful to an event in their own times. Some of the frames represent a fragment of nature, and others are reinterpretations of significant works of art history.

In the majority of his works, Amirhossein Bayani makes references to the concepts of power and politics, and he does so in a most implicit manner. Even though the hidden ideas of the works strongly suggest power and politics, they are nevertheless poetic and romantic on the surface. He connects art, beauty, and his own conception of social life to his political concerns, thus juxtaposing aesthetics and politics.

Unlike his previous series, i.e. “Out of Context,” which was about the politics of power, here in “Fidelity: Names of Politics,” power is sterilized and replaced by the idea of emancipation and being out of place, dispensing the policies of freedom of speech and individual voices. The voices of these people are heard louder and clearer than those of others in history, and their figures stand out above countless others with similar concerns.