Wild Garden blooms at XVA

Wild Garden, a month-long exhibition curated by Morteza Zahedi, displays the very interesting works of three artists at the XVA Gallery, part of the XVA Art Hotel at the Bastakiya. I had a look around at the vernissage on April 19th.

Salim Karami's drawings stand out for the color combinations and the way the artist fills the paper space with the floral forms. The thickly-packed lines of colored pen on paper result in a texture that resembles embroidery from a distance, and the thin white spaces left between the strokes give the trunks and branches a flowing, growing, organic look.

The bird motif appears frequently in Hasan Hazer Moshar's mixed media sculptural array. The small figurines of humans standing erect, birds (especially owls), and human-bird creatures bring to mind ancient Greek statuary of palladia, Athena iconography, and harpies.

Davood Koochaki's penciled figures stare hypnotically out from the cards, appearing bestially hirsute and muscled thanks to the coarse line fill, like a draft of a Studio Ghibli character.

On till May 22nd