Ali Akbar Sadeghi | "Limbo": Dastan's Basement

“Limbo,” a solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi (b. 1937), features a rare trio of works by Sadeghi from the late 1970s, exhibited privately for the first time. 

Ali Akbar Sadeghi (b. 1937, Tehran), a painter, director, and illustrator, stands as one of Iran's most prominent figures in contemporary art, his creations wielding significant influence on the visual culture of Iran. This exhibition marks the second collaboration between Ali Akbar Sadeghi Foundation and Dastan, following “Mad," a solo exhibition of the artist at Parallel Circuit (June-August 2022).

The triptych comprises a selection from the private collection of Ernst Fuchs, a former employee of Pars Grundig in Tehran and an old friend of Ali Akbar Sadeghi. These artworks reflect the spirit of their time and the sociopolitical atmosphere. Themes such as the suicides of soldiers and elderly bodies in surreal and dreamlike settings against dark backgrounds allude to the events around the 1979 Revolution. 

In 1980, Fuchs purchased eight works by Sadeghi, including these three. Enamored with Iranian culture and fluent in Persian, Fuchs returned to his native Switzerland after seventeen years in Iran, taking his art collection. Over the years, the bond between these two friends waned.

In 2017, the Ali Akbar Sadeghi Foundation presented a retrospective of the artist in collaboration with the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. At the time, the current works could not be located to be featured in the exhibition. However, less than six months ago, a mutual friend put the two back in contact, ultimately leading to the return of this collection to Iran for public display.

A short documentary produced by the Sadeghi Foundation chronicling the return of these works is presented as part of the exhibition.