Mirza Hamid | "Mirza's Shelter": Dastan:Outside

"Mirza’s Shelter,” a solo exhibition of murals by Mirza Hamid opens on May 31 and will be on view until June 14, 2024. The show is hosted in the courtyard and five salons at the former Forouzan Factory which the artist has chosen as a venue, the space used to be a refrigerator manufacturing plant. Dastan:Outside has facilitated this project by negotiating the provision of the venue for the artist for their creative endeavors. 

In this exhibition, the artist employs his single signature material – a mixture of red soil and water – to depict mostly human forms on the walls of a factory. Inspired by children and prehistoric art, Mirza Hamid's work exudes a formal simplicity. Alongside the large murals, such as a witty reinterpretation of Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” (c. 1512), the artist incorporates features such as a door, a corner, or a connecting bridge to playfully place his figures around it. For instance, he has created a scene of a frail upright body, seemingly in a yoga position on one foot, with arrows targeting it just above the stair rail near the wall. It appears the figure has managed to maintain his equilibrium on the narrow bar.

For the past decade, Mirza Hamid has anonymously painted more than 500 murals, many of which have been destroyed by harsh climate or municipal authorities. In addition to Tehran, Mirza has depicted images on the street walls in Yazd, Khorramshahr, Abadan, and Rasht. He has also left his artistic mark on the war-torn ruins in Damascus.

The exhibition and its items are not for sale but for display only. 

Dastan:Outside has had no input in the artist’s creative processes and has merely collaborated on providing executive means for the project’s promotion and public display. The project was formed with the help of Mona Zehtabchi. The venue has been kindly provided by Mohammad Ramin Komeilian and the Komeilian family, where the artist worked on their project from January to March 2024.