Lot 81: Untitled

MOHAMMED ALI TARAGHIJAH (IRANIAN, B. 1943)
Untitled
signed and dated 'M.A.Taraghijah 2006' and signed again in Farsi (lower right)
oil on canvas
55 x 43¼in. (140 x 110cm.)
Painted in 2006

Figures of horses, roosters and rural Iranian symbols populate Taragijah's tranquil paintings. Taraghijah's compositions oscillate between translucency and opacity, the images at once subtle but defined, revealing yet mysterious. His evocative work is strong in poetic overtones, the weightlessness animal and human figures, and even the mountains, are freed from the earthly constraint of gravity, on a journey to paradise.
Taraghijah uses white to symbolizes the presence of God, which the artist feels close to him everywhere, and which binds together the disparate elements of creation.