Haleh Redjaian: In-Between Spaces

German-Iranian artist Haleh Redjaian (b. 1971, Frankfurt) makes use of the universal language of abstraction to draw upon the human tendency of overlaying reality with structures and systems to apprehend what cannot be otherwise grasped. In her drawings, car- pets and spatial thread installations, the artist deploys ready-made or hand-drawn grids and lines as a framework for her geometric elaborations. By allowing irregularities and deviations within this strict order, she acknowledges the ever-present and unforeseen surprises that make up our incomprehensible lives.

This exhibition at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde marks Redjaian’s first solo exhibition in the Middle East and explores the artist’s multidisciplinary practice, which is characterised by an intuitive and almost meditative methodology. Her drawings consist of layer upon layer of repetitive line structures in graphite, overlaid with patterns of geometrical shapes in a watercolour palette with shimmering golden details. These light distractions subtly break out of the rigid rational systems that try to contain them.

Appropriating the rich Iranian heritage of textile weaving, the artist interprets her visual vocabulary in a series of hand-knitted carpets. The minimalistic white or gridded carpets are sourced from a manu- facturer in Kerman, Iran, and function as the backdrop on which Redjaian stiches minimal, long, fine threads, presenting a thought- provoking dialogue between tradition and modernity, Middle-Eastern ornament and Western modernist aesthetics.

Evenly referencing the artist’s Iranian background, a monumental installation will form the focal point of the exhibition. Inspired by the striking architecture of the iconic Azadi Tower in Tehran, the landmark will be interpreted through a set of threads attached from the wall to the floor, evoking Redjaian’s gridded universe in the three-dimensional space.

In her practice, the artist demonstrates how we tend to follow our overwhelming ways of life through guidance of comprehensible systems, curbing the chaos that exists in reality. The grids in her aesthetics symbolise the traces along which we exist, equally appropriating time and space while trying to adjust and finding our place within.