Lot 74: Sirak Melkonian (Iran, born 1931) Untitled

Sirak Melkonian (Iran, born 1931)
Untitled acrylic on canvasexecuted in 201291 x 91cm (35 13/16 x 35 13/16in).

Provenance:Property from a private collection, London"Melkonian's compositions are not of utopian lands but rather inner landscapes with no trace or record in history. Looking closely at the texture of brush strokes one is amazed at the mastery of his renderings" – Alain Bosquet, 1976Sirak Melkonian is one of Iran's most assiduous and gifted modern artists and has been practising his signature style of "topographical" abstraction for over half a century. Melkonian's sparse, minimal palettes accentuate his exploration of line and colour. He offers his audience a new landscape which is neither imaginary nor real, neither surrealist nor naturalist, but profoundly personal and esoteric. Melkonian gained recognition as early as 1957 when he was awarded the prize at the Contemporary Iranian Artists exhibition at the Iran-America Society.