Mahmoud Hamadani: Fugues

XVA announce “Fugues”, the solo show of Mahmoud Hamadani at XVA Gallery. The exhibition presents works on paper from the ongoing series Requiem, Traces and Odes.

Mahmoud Hamadani was born in Iran. He has exhibited at the British Museum, New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, New York University, and galleries in New York, London and Dubai.  He is a recipient of Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant. His works can be found in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the British Museum London. Hamadani earned a BA in Mathematics from State university of New York and a Masters degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He lives and works in New York City. 

“The works in this exhibition are from three series of my drawings, Requiem, Traces and Odes. 

Requiem is a study of the dynamics of order and chaos. The rhythmic pattern in each drawing is restrained by a simple structure. This can be a grid, a line or a dot. Without a structure the system is not sustainable, and without freedom it cannot thrive. Look closely at each drawing and you’ll see myriad of haphazard elements. Step back and a resolved serenity appears. 

I create the works in the second series Traces by blowing ink on paper. These are studies of chance and will. The inspiration for the series is best captured in the following poem by Gu Cheng: 

Now on my heart’s page
there is no grid to guide my hand, no character to trace
only the moisture
the ink blew dew
that has dripped from the leaves. 
To spread it I can’t use a writing brush, can’t use a pen. 
I can only use my life’s gentlest breath to make a line of marks
worth puzzling over. 

The process of making these drawings is akin to ”the search for that which cannot be found.” An image appears through a process of decisions and accidents.  And just as in life where much depends on chance, it’s ultimately our decisions that give shape and meaning to this out of control process. 

The third series, Odes, is a simple study of light and shadow, a most basic preoccupation of the artist as well as the moral being.   

Altogether these works are explorations of basic dualisms, with which we grapple everyday, often with little awareness.”  (Mahmoud Hamadani)