Lot 128: Pouran Jinchi , Iranian B. 1959 Tajvid No. 12 ink on paper

signed, titled and dated 2007 on the reverse ink on paper

measurements note 79.5 by 61cm.; 31 1/4 by 24in.

Trained as a calligrapher in Mashhad, Iran and having studied for three years at the Art Students League in New York, Pouran Jinchi's work is abstract expressionism a l'Orient, or inversely, Near Eastern calligraphy with Western inflections. Combining the classical with the contemporary, Jinchi's work explores Arabic and Farsi texts and in particular the epic poems of Persia. As part of her exploration of this rich literary legacy, and as an extension of her inventive manoeuvring within the conventions of a long-practiced art form, each letter of Jinchi's scripts is meticulously reduced to a non-representational mark, a formal element that constitutes part of her animated and energized abstract vignettes. But Pouran Jinch's appropriation of language in her art is as much about absence and asceticism as is it is about insinuated presence; Jinchi's crafted arrangement of her abridged forms and her selective inclusion of a few actual words in each of her works elucidates the subject that the work itself and the text behind it probe. Tajvid #12 is part of a new body of work by Pouran Jinchi that takes as its departure point the Quran, the sacred text for Muslims. For each of the Recitation drawings, of which Tajvid #12 is one, Jinchi has taken a surah, a chapter from the Quran, and has rewritten it; she has emitted all the consonant letters of the original text but retained the guiding vowels and numbers that are present within it as well as a reference to its name. As the chapter's vowels linger on, floating above the missing letters to indicate how they are to be properly pronounced (tajwid), a harmonious motif of bright green lines and curls results. In the absence of the consonant letters, the copied passage becomes incomprehensible; its vowels are stripped of their linguistic meaning or purpose and they emerge as purely aesthetic decorations. As always, however, Jinchi leaves reminders in each of her drawings of the origin of her markings, in this case allusions to the surahs' names, which provide relief from otherwise utter ambiguity. In addition, the vagueness created by that which is excluded in Jinchi's distorted surahs and the array of possibilities of what the removed may disclose give a nod to the complex and protracted debates that have, at length, surrounded the manifold interpretations of verses, even words, that appear in the Quran; these debates are largely rooted in differences over guiding vowels and pronunciations. Tajvid #12 and the remainder of the Recitation drawings are part of Pouran Jinchi's project to emphasize the visual and auditory delight to be derived from the Quran as well the open-ended meanings one can read between the lines of this sacred text.