HAMID YARAGHCHI
Hamid Yaraghchi is interested in the interplay between compulsion and abjection within his works. The Berlin-based artist describes his works as having a ‘fascination with the terrible’, but elevating such questionable or troubling imagery to a new state in which it is dislodged from its source and re-investigated through his own magical interpretation. “Although they are familiar to us, they appear transformed,” he states.
The works seem best described as illustrating so-called ‘in between’ states; between infrastructure and nature, body and soul, reality and subjectivity. There is a fascination with darkness, but also with light, since colour and brightness are just as important here: when used sparingly, their touch is instrumental in elevating a painting to these near-transcendental states.
Our own subjective perception, bias, and history clouds the imagery, and Yaraghchi purposely situates his work in that hypnogogic state, precisely between ‘awake and asleep’, whereas as viewers, our interpretation of these complex images is where they really begin to deconstruct and show their inherent beauty. They function on a few levels – primarily, how we receive the information he is selecting to present to us, and how we read them as paintings – the brushwork, the decision-making, the additions and subtractions.
Yaraghchi states that above all visual art possibilities, he is interested in ‘creating a place to symbolically explode reality.’ The subject matter is often morbid or off-putting: Yaraghchi bases his work on images that are of historical, religious, or social importance to reference the dark fascination human nature has with such imagery. It is this same fascination that once drove Andy Warhol to screen-print a car crash, or Paul McCarthy to make a lifelong career of the grotesque. Above all, Yaraghchi’s work identifies those sparks of enlightenment within the darkness – precisely where these sparse moments of beauty, colour, and transcendence spark.
HAMIDREZA YARAGHCHI (B. 1984, Tehran, Iran) lives and works in Berlin, Germany. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Dresden in 2020.
Solo exhibitions include: Depicting the Undepictable, The Lippe Society for Art, Detmold, Germany (2023); Fabricated Evils, Galerie Russi Klenner, Berlin, Germany (2023); Let The Wound Lie Open, BEERS London, London (2023); Suspicious Reality, Antonstadt Gallery, Dresden, Germany (2019) and; Banal Memories, Hübner and Hübner Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany (2016).
Group exhibitions include: Family & Friends, BEERS London, London (2023); FAQ: 20+10=30?, Uferhallen, Berlin, Germany (2023); The Finishing, Döbele Gallery, Mannheim, Germany (2022); .UM, Städtische Galerie, Viersen, Germany (2021); Welche Stimmung fandest du dort vor?, Russi Klenner, Berlin, Germany (2021); Existenz-Chapter II, Academy of Fine Arts Dresden, Germany (2020); Prospektive, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria (2019) and; 453:32 Visions, Maryam Fasihi Harandi Gallery, Tehran, Iran (2018).
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FAMILY & FRIENDS
30 Nov - 20 Dec 2023Our final exhibition of 2023 brings together existing and longstanding gallery artists (Hyangmok Baik, Jonni Cheatwood, Deborah Segun) alongside those whose solo exhibitions begin in 2024: including Liam Alvy, Jack Kabangu, Tang Shuo, and Christina Zimpel. Also exhibiting in the group show are a slate of fresh new perspectives, including Peter Larsen, Zoe Spowage, Hannah Wilson and more. The purpose of this exhibition is to introduce new artists into our roster amidst the artists whose practices we have championed for some time. We anticipate an exciting mix to present to our friends, collectors, and followers.Read more -
HAMID YARAGHCHI: LET THE WOUND LIE OPEN
15 Jan - 18 Feb 2023Hamid Yaraghchi’s debut solo exhibition at the gallery, Let the Wound Lie Open, is a staggeringly emotive and technically extraordinary body of paintings. The works are an investigation into the aesthetics of abject motifs that focus primarily on the human body as a symbol of beauty and revulsion.Read more