scent of a fig tree

thick in the summer air,

shadows of her beautiful hands,

like Shiva,

kneading the darkness, dancing.

 

drops of sweet white juice

on the way back from school

in the summer heat

the desert shining like a silver sky

 

through the long night,

this longing for you ripens and thickens

we dive toward insanity

 

you pluck my chords,

and the song echoes the universe.

each day, each night.

 

the night you made a promise:

the day of reunion,

I count up the days,

every day and every night.

 

thirst near to my eyes,

drops of sweet white juice,

the shadow of a fig tree

quiets my soul.

 

- Reza Derakshani

Leila Heller Gallery presents a series of new and never before seen paintings by Iranian-American artist Reza Derakshani in “Night Conveys the Light, Every Day & Every Night,” open March 7th to September 7th, 2022.

 

In his paintings, Derakshani recalls forgotten tales and symbols of Iran’s cultural heritage, at a time where traditions and practices are under threat and often outlawed. Through a rich iconography drawing from medieval Persian poetry, classical literature, miniature painting, and sacred architectural sites laden with meaning, Derakshani’s work celebrates both ornamentation and color fields, as the artist finds a space for figural representation in abstract aesthetics.

 

This new series of work is from his Day and Night and Fig Tree series, in which Derakshani explores opposing themes of the world. While aesthetically ornamented, the paintings express a duality of experiences and reflect the fullness and ambiguity of life. Derakshani’s paintings often mimic poetry and music. For the artist, painting is a spiritual process that allows for a return to physicality and beauty, in a rejection of the irony that often permeates contemporary painting. With Russian culture and literature heavily incorporated into his early education, the artist notes the parallels between Iran and Russia’s ornate and metaphorically heavy classical cultural backgrounds.