Paintings

Zahra Ghyasi

“Libraries”
“Libraries” are the visual representation of places hidden inside literary, mystical texts. The paintings are suggestions for placing impossible libraries in these locations. While the images were being shaped, I considered the scenes in which the given scholar or writer lived, with an eye on his biography and writings.


“Location”
Painting is like looking in the mirror; watching an unreachable place. The difference is that the viewer imagines the painting’s space behind her back and herself somewhere inside the painting. The painter and the artist both desire to enter and intervene in each other’s space. In “Location,” I have imagined myself inside paintings of Romantic era, with a skeptical approach to the ideals of the era that are still floating around in our heads.

Zahra Ghyasi, “The Virtuous City is of one type only, for right is removed from multiplicity, and there is only one road to goods.” —The Nasirean Ethics, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, from “Libraries” series, oil on canvas, 150 x 220 cm, 2019
Zahra Ghyasi, “Wherever there is a notion of you, there is hell, and wherever you are not, there is heaven.” —Asrar al-Tawhid, Abusa’id Abolkhayr, from “Libraries” series, oil on canvas, 150 x 220 cm , 2020
Zahra Ghyasi, “In the beginning the Mount Qaf was created to circle around the world, eleven mountains in total, and when you are freed from the restrains, you will attain that position.” —The Red Intellect, Sohrevardi, from “Libraries” series, oil on canvas, 150 x 220 cm , 2018
Zahra Ghyasi, “Reduction, being reduced from within, putting a bowl in, digging a well deep down oneself, and retreating inside, looking for one’s self… Aye, it all starts here, when a catastrophe begins: retreating inside and wandering in the land of darkness.” —Ayda: Tree, Dagger, Remembrance, Ahmad Shamlou, from “Libraries” series, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm , 2018
Zahra Ghyasi, “O, shackled white beast! / O, dome of the world, Damavand! / You have a helmet on your head of silver / And a belt around your waste of iron.” —Mohammad-Taqi Bahar, from “Libraries” series, oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm , 2019
Zahra Ghyasi, “I know that there, under the tree, three drops of blood have fallen onto the ground. He has hung a cage in front of his window. The cage is empty because the cat has had his canary. So he has left the cage hanging to lure the cats to the cage and then kill them.” —Three Drops of Blood, Sadeq Hedayat, from “Libraries” series, oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm, 2019
Zahra Ghyasi, “Pass by, O heartwarming breeze of Khorasan! / Blow on me, for I am imprisoned in the valley of Yamgan.” —The Exile’s Lament, Nasir Khusraw, from “Libraries” series, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm , 2020
Zahra Ghyasi, After “The Raft of the Medusa” by Théodore Géricault, from “Location” series, oil on canvas, 150 x 200 cm , 2020
Zahra Ghyasi, After “Isle of the dead” by Arnold Böcklin, from “Location” series, oil on canvas, 150 x 200 cm , 2019
Zahra Ghyasi, After “Rain, Steam and Speed—The Great Western Railway” by William Turner, from “Location” series, oil on canvas, 150 x 200 cm , 2019
Zahra Ghyasi , After “The Monk by the Sea” by Caspar David Friedrich, from “Location” series, oil on canvas, 90 x 120, 2020
Zahra Ghyasi , After “The Barque of Dante” by Eugène Delacroix, from “Location” series, oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm, 2020
“Locus” series, installation view, 2020
“Locus” series, installation view, 2020
“Locus” series, installation view, 2020
“Locus” series, installation view, 2020
“Locus” series, installation view, 2020