Description

Acrylic on Canvas Painting 160x160cm 2017 5000x5000 px Talaei’s portraits carry the influences of his Tehran childhood, drawing on a visual vocabulary enriched by a wide variety of aesthetic inspirations ranging from the ancient sculpture of Mohenjodaro to popular television programs like Star Trek. Working over the past decade, the artist has refined and developed his visual universe by using and juxtaposing these eclectic elements. The result is a rich canvas of robust but uncertain figures who effortlessly hide the truth whilst being happily unaware of their false reality. A prime example is the grand figure of the old man with unseeing eyes who seems unaware of his failure as a leader or philosopher. Talaei’s paintings carry a suggestion of doubt about both his self-image and worldview, as well as his faith in the future. It brings to mind Giacometti’s statement: “I have the impression or the illusion that I make progress every day. That motivates me.”