Lot 92: PARVIZ TANAVOLI (IRANIAN, B. 1937) Heech and Chair signed, numbered and dat

PARVIZ TANAVOLI (IRANIAN, B. 1937) Heech and Chair signed, numbered and dated ‘Parviz, 07, 3/20’ (on the lower right seat of the chair) painted fbreglass 76 3/8 x 30¿ x 29 3/8 in. (194 x 76.5 x 74.6cm.) Executed in 2007, this work is number three from an edition of twenty

PROVENANCE: Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner. Parviz Tanavoli is celebrated for his contribution to the continuity in the surge of art emerging from Iran since the 1960s. Examining Iranian heritage and cultural identity, he references Iranian poetry, Iranian mysticism, Sufsm and literature in his sculptures that captivate the attention of collectors internationally. The use of ‘Heech’ in Tanavoli’s works references the Persian letter which means ‘nothing’. It refects the feelings of unworthiness, frustration and inefectiveness which haunt modern man and permeate so much of the writing of contemporary literature. It also renders in a single word the mystical belief that recognises that God is permanent, while everything else has no true substance, bound to vanish; the other seeks dissolution of the individual personality to fnd union with the God. Tanavoli’s use of the Heech underscores the transforming power of his art. In the West, existentialist convention encourages us to take ‘nothingness’ as a synonym for despair; but the Heech in Tanavoli’s work is more nearly synonymous with creativity itself: it is the void flled by the artist’s imagination, the ‘nothing’ that through his shaping hand becomes ‘something’. Mysticism enhances Tanavoli’s fascination with the Heech, but as he himself acknowledges, he was also drawn to its calligraphic shape because of its resemblance to the human body. If the word itself suggests melancholy, Tanavoli’s Heech and Chair is a joyful work full of whimsy and playfulness in its bright red colour. (alternative view) ‘Another feature that enhanced its appeal for me was the lovely proportionate shape of heech. Like the human fgure, it was soft and pliable and could easily assume diferent positions such as reclining or sitting on a chair or leaning against a table.’ (The artist, quoted in 1970s-2011 Works from the Artist’s Collection, Parviz Tanavoli: Poet in Love, exh. cat., London, Desmond Fine Art, 2011, p. 7).