Lot 143: - Alireza Espahbod , Iranian 1952-2007 Child oil on canvas

signed and dated 1376 (A.P./ A.D. 1997) ; signed on the reverse oil on canvas

measurements note 130 by 115cm.; 51 1/8 by 45 1/4 in.

Aydin Aghdashloo & Javad Mojabi, Ali-Reza Espahbod, Teheran 1999, p. 217, illustrated in colour

Alireza Espahbod's works burst with glimpses of nightmares that crystallize in the form of fragmented and colliding shapes, metamorphosed human-animal figures, and expressionistic explosions of light and shadow. Espahbod's visions deal with the human condition and with humanity's existence in the tenuous and oppressive circumstances of the present-day. As Javad Mojabi explains, Espahbod "portrays a complex and disrupted world where... there is no stability, nor any predefined bearings, nor any soothing consolation. There is only turbulence, helplessness and bewilderment." (Alizera Espahbod, et al., Selected Works of Ali-Reza Espahbod, Teheran 1998, p. 46) Alireza Espahbod creates this terrible world through a geometrically organized, deconstruction of the space of his canvases; Espahbod divides his works into segments that are then reconnected to one another through forced links made between disjointed, floating bodies and through thick patches of brilliant colours that appear to set his compositions as a whole into a whirlwind of motion. Espahbod builds only to demolish and to make some semblance of sense from the resulting debris. The violently destructive forces that dominate Espahbod's paintings rip apart his human characters, slitting them open, exposing their bodily organs and baring their inner conflicts and thoughts. Espahbod's human figures are thus literally torn to pieces by the good and evil in the world and in themselves. Half-wolf half-humans are seen taking on half-human half-birds in ruthlessness reminiscent of the animal kingdom or of the wildest jungle. In this way, Espahbod is commenting on the animosity of humans, an animosity that results in men being subjected to abuse and robbed of their dignity by their fellow men. Alireza Espahbod has removed himself from the bleak realities of his surroundings in his paintings and has chosen to represent these realities instead using the surreal vocabulary of terrifying dreams. Ironically, Espahbod's portrayal captures the madness of the world more vividly than a realistic painting would. Relying on symbolism and allegory, Espahbod's works present a protest against the intolerable situation in which man lives and a warning on the gloomy outlook of his future. Like many other elusive Espahbod works, Child can be interpreted in a number of ways. Here, the artist may be offering his predictions for a young child's future, predictions of a grim path based on the dreadfulness of the present. The future the child has to look forward to is summarized by a series of vignettes which tell of inhibition and repression conveyed through a tied up wolf, brotherly violence and conflict through two brawling men, suspicion and fear through a man with a frowning face on whose shoulder sits a governmental official, sheepishness through a sheep which seems to be avoiding confrontation or thoughtlessly executing orders, and so on. The baby that is seen playing with a toy may be a reference, in this case, to a future of being toyed with or to the innocence of the child ahead of whom this dark future lies, an innocence that will surely disappear. Alternatively, Child may be speaking of the initial stages of the development of a youth and the early beginnings of the tarnishing of its thoughts as a result of the process of social conditioning. Child would thus be delineating a cross-section of a youth's conflicted thinking. The wolf in the picture, for example is now restrained and calmed but how long will it be until it is unleashed? The persistence of some positive elements in the mind of the child is promising but many negative elements have already taken form. The baby in the painting, in this explanation, then may be referring to lost innocence and to the memory of purity that once was.