Monday, September 24, 2018

Red Heech

Red Heech by Parviz Tanavoli, Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, The British Museum, Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London

“Red Heech” by Parviz Tanavoli, 2001
Queen Elizabeth II Great Court
The British Museum
Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury
London, January 2008

“The foremost Iranian artist Parviz Tanavoli was a founder member of ‘Saqqakhaneh’, a term coined for an artistic movement that began in Iran during the 1960s and which sought to integrate popular symbols of Shi'a culture in art - a ‘spiritual Pop Art’, as it has been described. He has long been inspired by the word ‘heech’ - meaning ‘nothing’ - which he has created in numerous and ever more ambitious forms. It has been said that the word symbolises for him both an ambivalence towards the past and a sense of meaninglessness or dissatisfaction with an inadequate present. The letter forms are in the traditional Persian ‘nasta'liq’ script (Porter 2008, 57).” (Red Heech, The British Museum)

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