Reza Abedini | "Delimitation": +2

+2 presents "Delimitation" a collection of works by Reza Abedini (b. 1967, Tehran, Iran). "Delimitation" will open on Friday October 1, 2021. A renowned Iranian artist and designer, Reza Abedini is a graduate of graphic design from the School of Fine Arts in Tehran, and painting from Tehran University of Arts. He has been continuously working as an artist, designer, educator and researcher in typography, graphic design and visual arts since 1989. His artistic achievements span across several fields but his recognition came originally through the influence he exerted on Persian typography when he founded the collective and magazine "Dabireh" in 2005. He is currently teaching graphic design at the American University of Beirut and he has held and continues to hold many workshops in countries around the globe.

Meditation on type design and Persian typography led the artist to a comparative study of visual samples within the Iranian cultural history and other visual cultures. As such, his graphic design work is replete with historical references, especially the imagery and portraiture of the Qajar and Safavid eras. In some works, we see a lone figure surrounded by empty space; thus, contrary to traditional Iranian graphic sensibilities, reducing form to it bare visual essentials. No line is simply a line; it is a vector pointing to a concept. The viewer forms the concept, whether this concept is made of the fabric of images or meanings. Abedini invites the viewer to contemplate these two aspects of the line – visual and semantic – together. In 2015, he showed “Callidrawing” at Ab/Anbar Gallery in Tehran after many years of absence from the Iranian art scene. The exhibition included eighty-nine pieces floating between drawing and calligraphy (writing), referring to his longtime and deep fascination with the two. His current exhibit at +2 is a continuation of his "long and deep preoccupation with lines and meanings". For him, this preoccupation has not "aged". In "Delimitation" an imagined line connects all the works, like a string binding the beads of a rosary, to insist on the non-duality of form and meaning. "An insistence on understanding a text deprives us from seeing the words". If in "Callidrawing" he wanted to bring attention to the dependence of meaning on form, in "Delimitation" he wants to show the dependence of form on meaning. Every form exudes meaning. 

His pieces have been exhibited in numerous international exhibitions, winning him several notable awards. His work has been purchased and is displayed in various international collections and museums as well as private collections. In 2006, he was the winner of the Prince Claus Award (The Netherlands) for his remarkable contribution in valorizing Iranian graphic design. He was nominated for the Jameel Prize at the V&A Museum (London, UK) in 2010, and was a recipient of the European Design Awards in 2010. He is the first Iranian designer whose name was listed in “Meggs’ History of Graphic Design” as one of the world’s outstanding designers.