The Running Horse

The Manner of Silence is a solo exhibition covering several aspects of the practice of Maryam Amini, a notable growing Iranian artist whose multifarious body of work reflects with grace the dark yet delightful nature of the “human”. The interactive series of works produced for this exhibition is a reconciled assemblage of organic drawings, paintings, and light-box installations, resembling a cabinet of curiosities.

These works show objectified and faithful reproductions of nature, animals, and historical moments, all floating in a gauzy white field and inciting our gaze to discover a dreamy environment that transports the viewer into her subconscious, automated landscapes.

Amini, in her usual manner uses paper and canvas as an intimate journal creating “a language to scream while whispering”, as Fereydoun Ave puts it, in a country where otherwise her voice would be stifled. It is an expression of a passionate self in restrained and calm codes.

Drawn elements and scattered body offshoots float in abundance giving off a strong sense of emasculation of the body. However, the harshness of the subject matter and its representation is cushioned by her very own disparate and dislocated style. Her introverted, burst of colour mannerisms is balanced with elements of the outside world of the city and everyday life.

A sporadic reading of the works would come through as alluding to the Surrealists’ Cadavre Exquis, as the viewer is naturally plunged in the artist’s entrails with no inherent logic. Every element represented stands independently and simultaneously interacts with the whole; it makes sense and doesn’t, it awakens emotions and fears. Amini consciously resists any restrictions on her freedom of thought and expression on the one hand and freedom of transcending borders on the other. Amini’s work proves to be extremely consistent in reflecting her inner world while expressing voluptuously and with tact an overarching humanistic attitude.