Tehran,
No. 7, Abdeh Ave. Larestan Street. ,Motahari Street.
18 December - 8 January 2021
Keiman Mahabadi creates his works by collecting images and reproducing them. Interested in social media and how innumerable images are presented in the media, he gets the ideas for his paintings and drawings from the image data he encounters daily. By separating the images from their context and background, Keiman provides a new context for looking at and interpreting the work, this time it is the experience, geography, concerns, and interests of the viewer that give meaning to the image. This playful act of deletion and alteration allows the artist to have a personal and social exploration. The materials Keiman uses for his art are ink and paper, which have historically had a close association with the media and the communication of the ideas to the public.
In the "Torna" series, Keiman has reviewed and reproduced scenes from a classic film "Kandoo" (beehive) directed by Fereydoun Gole in his drawings. In the exhibition "Torna", he has created images that are in many ways similar to the illustrations of comic books. However, by removing the narrative background, he leaves some room for the interpretation and intervention of the viewer, thereby allowing the image to be linked to the audience's background and establishing a connection between the real world today and the world present in the artwork. He puts his emphasis on the intense and painful scenes of the protagonist's beating, lasting for a long time where he endures the continuance of suffering and wounding, and this immerses the viewer and himself in astonishment and shock.
Kandoo (beehive) is the story of a young man named Ebi who, after his release from prison, spends a night in a downtown teahouse. That night Ebi who used to be a wrestler, witness his old opponent die due to addiction. He decides to accept the sentence given to him in the game of Torna *, which rules Ebi to eat and drink in pubs and restaurants from downtown to north of Tehran, without paying. He goes to seven pubs on this path and returns to the teahouse injured, drunk, and covered in blood from the beatings he endured along the way and finally ends up in Jail again.
In the "Torna" series, Keiman has reviewed and reproduced scenes from a classic film "Kandoo" (beehive) directed by Fereydoun Gole in his drawings. In the exhibition "Torna", he has created images that are in many ways similar to the illustrations of comic books. However, by removing the narrative background, he leaves some room for the interpretation and intervention of the viewer, thereby allowing the image to be linked to the audience's background and establishing a connection between the real world today and the world present in the artwork. He puts his emphasis on the intense and painful scenes of the protagonist's beating, lasting for a long time where he endures the continuance of suffering and wounding, and this immerses the viewer and himself in astonishment and shock.
Kandoo (beehive) is the story of a young man named Ebi who, after his release from prison, spends a night in a downtown teahouse. That night Ebi who used to be a wrestler, witness his old opponent die due to addiction. He decides to accept the sentence given to him in the game of Torna *, which rules Ebi to eat and drink in pubs and restaurants from downtown to north of Tehran, without paying. He goes to seven pubs on this path and returns to the teahouse injured, drunk, and covered in blood from the beatings he endured along the way and finally ends up in Jail again.
* Torna is the name of an ancient Iranian game, also known as "King and minister". In this game, participants choose one of the players as king. Which is usually chosen from the oldest or most respected members of the group. The chosen king will pass on rules through his minister, to other players. Common rules were whipping, mustache-pulling, lifting from ears, singing, buying sweets and fruit (for group or city peasants). Torna is a game based on giving orders, not negotiation, and its rulings are obligatory. This game was mostly played during the long nights of Ramadan.
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