Farideh Lashai’s exquisite 2012-13 multi-media installation, When I Count, There Are Only You…But When I Look, There Is Only a Shadow finds its point of departure in one of art’s modern masterpieces, Francisco Goya’s Los Desastres de la Guerra (1810-20), which articulates the cruelties of warfare as both historically specific and timelessly universal.

A celebrated Iranian painter, translator and novelist, Lashai (1944-2013) expanded her practice to media installation during the last years of her life. For this piece, she meticulously re-etched each plate in Goya’s famous series, eradicating the figures and thereby neutralizing compositional tensions and narrative dynamics. She reintroduced actors of violence and suffering through projected animation, deploying a roving spotlight to focus the viewer’s gaze. Here, Lashai’s work is presented in conjunction with five very fine prints from Goya’s original series, recently acquired by the Davis.