Sassan Nassiri’s artistic approach is to clean and trim the landscape in search for the lost silence. His landscapes capture the “frameless” nature from where a vast, clear “plain” is imagined. The frames, made from a combination of photographs together with the artist’s personal memory of the place, are devoid of humans. Any trace of human presence is minimized, as buildings disappear from the panoramic view of the mountains of Tehran, and the Tuscan plains do not make way except for a narrow grill or a lonely cottage on a desolate hill.

Such pristine backdrop provides Nassiri with an ideal field for painterly experimentation. Here he can play with visual elements of color, light and texture in the simplest of compositions. His palette is limited to a few colors: warm blues, sienna, ochre and white, which guarantees the homogeny of the landscapes and the uniquely haunting atmosphere of the works. The open horizon takes the eye as a witness into the scene and evokes a bodily presence in the landscape. The warmth of the soil and the rush of the clouds in the twilight invite us to extend our perception of the painting to the first-hand experience in nature; which is today, obviously, a rare incident.

Helia Darabi