ROKNI HAERIZADEH
|
Painted image from Reign of Winter, 2013, Gesso, watercolour and ink on printed paper,21 x 29.7 cm
|
Yallay Gallery’s forthcoming exhibition on the work of Iranian artist Rokni Haerizadeh centers on the singular rotoscope video Reign of Winter (2012-13). The animated film—based on the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton—is made from image stills downloaded from the Internet and over-painted by hand. In Reign of Winter, as in his greater body of work, Haerizadeh examines the idea that as we indulge in lavish, choreographed rituals, we also succumb to sordid, animalistic tendencies, both of which are exploited in mass-media spectacles.
The rotoscope video format—based on thousands of hand-painted images—allows Haerizadeh to work in a newly-created medium, which he calls moving paintings: "A painting is usually received by the viewer and by the critic as a fixed and static object, with the entire process of generating the work far removed from the final piece. It’s important for me to add this element of ‘time’, to slow down the process and to make that process visible. In this way, the painting unfolds before your eyes and transforms gradually." The movement, pulse and vibration in the video’s succession of individually painted drawings differentiate this medium from both painting and video art. Haerizadeh’s physical, bodily engagement as he sketches a line of drawings in front of him in a rhythmic style—alike to the practice of Pollock and Fontana—is echoed in the sequencing of his animations.
Reign of Winter (2012-13) takes inspiration from a poem of the same title by the late Iranian contemporary poet Mehdi Akhavan Sales, which describes the cold cruelty of winter and the colorless existence of those left outside. Fittingly, Haerizadeh’s animation features snowlike white dots that fall along the perimeter of the frame. The scene follows two headless figures, one in a white wedding dress with a long, trailing veil-wig of black ink and the other in a red uniform that morphs between breasts, genitals, and horse legs. The hybridized couple, together with an array of animal-human characters, transition from a fur-frenzied ceremony at Westminster Abbey, to a rabbit-headed carriage-cum-bathtub ride down the Mall, to the balcony of Buckingham Palace which been replaced by the fabled Crystal Palace.
Haerizadeh’s farcical, shape-shifting imagery gives an account of the event that is antithetical to its coverage by the press. His mockery of the wedding emphasizes not only the hysteria of the occasion but also its manipulation by the media. The facelessness of the participants, and their supplanting with fantastic creatures, renders Reign of Winter not about the wedding of Kate and William, but rather about an elaborate and voyeuristic spectacle forged by the media.
The presentation at Yallay Gallery will feature the projection of Reign of Winter, detailed sequences of the film on individual monitors, the painted preparatory pages for the video, as well as paintings based on the subject of the royal wedding.
Special Edition Artist Book
Yallay Gallery is pleased to announce the realization of a special edition Artist Book by Rokni Haerizadeh: Reign of Winter. Produced to coincide with the exhibition, each book includes ten unique paintings on paper, completed between 2012 and 2013, together with an essay by Negar Azimi and a signed and numbered certificate. Presented in an embossed case with a hand-painted cover by the artist.
About the artist
Rokni Haerizadeh (b. Tehran, 1978) lives and works in Dubai. He received a BA in Fine Arts and MA of Painting from the University of Tehran. His work with Ramin Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian has been the subject of two solo museum exhibitions: Slice A Slanted Arc Into Dry Paper Sky at the Kunsthalle, Zurich (2015) and The Birthday Party at The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston (2015-16).
He has participated in numerous institutional exhibitions, notably Carnegie International (2013); New Museum, New York (2014); Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane (2015); and the Sharjah Biennial (2011). His works are held in public and private collections, including The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; British Museum, London; Tate Modern, London; Devi Art Foundation, Delhi; JP Morgan Chase Collection, New York; the Rubell Family Collection, Miami; and the Guy and Myriam Ullens Foundation, Geneva.
Haerizadeh maintains a collaborative practice with Ramin Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian. In January 2014, the artists participated as fellows in the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation’s residency in Captiva, Florida. Fictionville, a monograph of Haerizadeh’s work edited by Negar Azimi, was published in 2014 by Koenig Books.
About the gallery
Yallay Gallery was founded in 2013 by Jean-Marc Decrop in Hong Kong’s Wong Chuk Hang arts district. The gallery exhibits the work of artists from China, Indonesia, South Asia, the Middle East and Pakistan. It is one of the first galleries in Asia to showcase art from the Arab, Iranian and Turkish contemporary art scenes. Decrop, a registered expert affiliated with the National Chamber of Experts (CNES) and the European Federation of Experts (CEDEA), is among the earliest collectors and dealers of first generation Chinese contemporary artists. Having settled in Hong Kong in 1993, he has since curated numerous institutional shows and collaborated with artists to produce pioneering, monographic exhibitions. Yallay Gallery is a member of the HKAGA (Hong Kong Art Gallery Association) and the SICD (South Island Cultural District).
Back
The rotoscope video format—based on thousands of hand-painted images—allows Haerizadeh to work in a newly-created medium, which he calls moving paintings: "A painting is usually received by the viewer and by the critic as a fixed and static object, with the entire process of generating the work far removed from the final piece. It’s important for me to add this element of ‘time’, to slow down the process and to make that process visible. In this way, the painting unfolds before your eyes and transforms gradually." The movement, pulse and vibration in the video’s succession of individually painted drawings differentiate this medium from both painting and video art. Haerizadeh’s physical, bodily engagement as he sketches a line of drawings in front of him in a rhythmic style—alike to the practice of Pollock and Fontana—is echoed in the sequencing of his animations.
Reign of Winter (2012-13) takes inspiration from a poem of the same title by the late Iranian contemporary poet Mehdi Akhavan Sales, which describes the cold cruelty of winter and the colorless existence of those left outside. Fittingly, Haerizadeh’s animation features snowlike white dots that fall along the perimeter of the frame. The scene follows two headless figures, one in a white wedding dress with a long, trailing veil-wig of black ink and the other in a red uniform that morphs between breasts, genitals, and horse legs. The hybridized couple, together with an array of animal-human characters, transition from a fur-frenzied ceremony at Westminster Abbey, to a rabbit-headed carriage-cum-bathtub ride down the Mall, to the balcony of Buckingham Palace which been replaced by the fabled Crystal Palace.
Haerizadeh’s farcical, shape-shifting imagery gives an account of the event that is antithetical to its coverage by the press. His mockery of the wedding emphasizes not only the hysteria of the occasion but also its manipulation by the media. The facelessness of the participants, and their supplanting with fantastic creatures, renders Reign of Winter not about the wedding of Kate and William, but rather about an elaborate and voyeuristic spectacle forged by the media.
The presentation at Yallay Gallery will feature the projection of Reign of Winter, detailed sequences of the film on individual monitors, the painted preparatory pages for the video, as well as paintings based on the subject of the royal wedding.
Special Edition Artist Book
Yallay Gallery is pleased to announce the realization of a special edition Artist Book by Rokni Haerizadeh: Reign of Winter. Produced to coincide with the exhibition, each book includes ten unique paintings on paper, completed between 2012 and 2013, together with an essay by Negar Azimi and a signed and numbered certificate. Presented in an embossed case with a hand-painted cover by the artist.
About the artist
Rokni Haerizadeh (b. Tehran, 1978) lives and works in Dubai. He received a BA in Fine Arts and MA of Painting from the University of Tehran. His work with Ramin Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian has been the subject of two solo museum exhibitions: Slice A Slanted Arc Into Dry Paper Sky at the Kunsthalle, Zurich (2015) and The Birthday Party at The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston (2015-16).
He has participated in numerous institutional exhibitions, notably Carnegie International (2013); New Museum, New York (2014); Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane (2015); and the Sharjah Biennial (2011). His works are held in public and private collections, including The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; British Museum, London; Tate Modern, London; Devi Art Foundation, Delhi; JP Morgan Chase Collection, New York; the Rubell Family Collection, Miami; and the Guy and Myriam Ullens Foundation, Geneva.
Haerizadeh maintains a collaborative practice with Ramin Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian. In January 2014, the artists participated as fellows in the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation’s residency in Captiva, Florida. Fictionville, a monograph of Haerizadeh’s work edited by Negar Azimi, was published in 2014 by Koenig Books.
About the gallery
Yallay Gallery was founded in 2013 by Jean-Marc Decrop in Hong Kong’s Wong Chuk Hang arts district. The gallery exhibits the work of artists from China, Indonesia, South Asia, the Middle East and Pakistan. It is one of the first galleries in Asia to showcase art from the Arab, Iranian and Turkish contemporary art scenes. Decrop, a registered expert affiliated with the National Chamber of Experts (CNES) and the European Federation of Experts (CEDEA), is among the earliest collectors and dealers of first generation Chinese contemporary artists. Having settled in Hong Kong in 1993, he has since curated numerous institutional shows and collaborated with artists to produce pioneering, monographic exhibitions. Yallay Gallery is a member of the HKAGA (Hong Kong Art Gallery Association) and the SICD (South Island Cultural District).
Back