Rana Dehghan | "Temptation of Green Gloves": Dastan's Basement

Dastan's Basement announces “Temptation of Green Gloves”, a solo exhibition of works by Rana Dehghan, opening on August 16 and continuing through September 6, 2024. This exhibition marks her third collaboration with Dastan Gallery following the duo presentation of her work alongside Yousha Bashir at Liste Art Fair 2023, and the group exhibition “Prospect 2” (Parallel Circuit, 2023).

In “Temptation of Green Gloves”, Rana Dehghan presents a series of ceramic sculptures that navigate the unsettling intersection of power, fear, and absurdity. vividly-colored hands clutching weapons, adorned with chicken feathers, create a stark visual contrast, embodying the contradictions of an Orwellian universe.

The simultaneously vibrant and ominous sculptures serve as symbols of control and vulnerability. The absurdity of the vivid colors and feathers contrasts with the violent implications of the weapons, reflecting the surreal and paradoxical nature of oppressive systems. The accompanying text, filled with bizarre instructions about gloves, becomes a metaphor for the arbitrary and contradictory rules that govern life under authoritarian regimes.

In this exhibition, Rana Dehghan invites viewers to question the illusions of safety and control that pervade such environments. The exhibition challenges them to consider how they navigate a world where the boundaries between protection and harm are dangerously blurred.

Rana Dehghan (b. 1986, Tehran, Iran) is a sculptor and painter living and working in Tehran. She received her BA in Painting from Azad University of Tehran (2013).

The art of Rana Dehghan investigates the made-up and the real after "the death of objects". Objects fall out of their "product" status to become “matter” again after some time. She removes and alters objects from the "common world of images" to use them as tools for self-expression. Despite alterations, deformations, and augmentations, these objects stay connected to their origins through clues left by the artist. They defy their normal state as much as they defy definitions since they are outside their intended purpose.