Lot 46: FARHAD MOSHIRI (IRAN, BORN 1963) 842L1 oil on canvas signed Farhad

FARHAD MOSHIRI (IRAN, BORN 1963) 842L1 oil on canvas signed Farhad Moshiri, titled 842L1 and dated 2006 in Farsi on the verso, executed in 2006 185 x 174cm (72 13/16 x 68 1/2in).

Provenance Property from a private collection, Dubai The present lot is a large and spectacular example of Farhad Moshiri’s inimitable calligraphic series. Executed in 2006, it exhibits all the aesthetic and conceptual hallmarks that make this series one of the most coveted and distinguished within his body of work. Having completed his studies at the distinguished California Institute of Arts, Moshiri returned to his native Iran with a distinctly occidental artistic sensibility, experimenting with sound art, assemblages and new media. Moshiri sees his initial time in Iran as a developmental stage within his artistic progression, when his raw and capricious aesthetic temperaments were yet to be cogently anchored in any identifiable conceptual or visual agenda. Supremely talented but largely unhoned, Moshiri was commissioned to paint decorative frescoes that would later influence the meticulous craft-centred approach of his subsequent work. It is at this point when Moshiri developed an interest in ancient Iranian pottery and the calligraphic imagery associated with much of the craft based artistic production of the Medieval Islamic world. It is through his fascination with these cultural relics and their harsh juxtaposition with a contemporary society that appeared to be expunging the aesthetic excellence and spiritual vigour of the past in favour of a mass, consumable form of culture that led Moshiri to concoct his signature blend of traditional and kitsch imagery.