Lot 123: One World/Yek Donia

FARHAD MOSHIRI (IRANIAN, B. 1963)
One World/Yek Donia
signed, titled and dated 'Farhad Moshiri One World 2007', and signed, titled and dated again in Farsi (on the reverse)
Swarovski diamond-shaped crystals on canvas on board
54¼ x 87¾in. (138 x 223cm.)
Executed in 2007

Through both over the top ornamentation and tongue in cheek pop culture, Farhad Moshiri complicates viewing mechanisms between Eastern and Western approaches to aesthetics, as well as the power dynamics inherent within those mechanisms.

One World Yek Donia demonstrates Moshiris ability to go beyond the confines of pure aestheticism with playful irreverence. Containing over 95 000 Swarovski crystal diamonds, Moshiri presents an idealized face of a globalized world and a globalized economy. In his usual subdued irreverence, Moshiri subtly questions the so called benefits of such a world view. Such a question is all the more poignant in the light of Irans position within this trend of a so called global village.