Ida Aslanian | "Contemplations": +2 [Deh-Vanak]

+2 is proud to announce Contemplations, the latest solo exhibition by Ida Aslanian, opening Friday, October 11th, the show will be on view through November 1st, 2024. Contemplations marks the artist's first collaboration with Dastan.

In Contemplations, Ida Aslanian presents a series of abstract works that deconstruct and simplify elements of Safavid miniatures. These intricate Persian artworks, known for their use of multiple panels depicting various stories and scenes, are reinterpreted by Aslanian into geometric compositions. By stripping away figurative, symbolic, and ornamental details, she isolates the underlying frameworks—panels, squares, and rectangles—that structure the original miniatures.

Viewed from a distance, her works appear as abstract, geometric fields, but upon closer inspection, they reveal subtle movements and layered narratives reminiscent of their historical counterparts.

The abstract nature of Aslanian's work is heightened by her choice to leave most pieces untitled. This allows viewers to engage with the paintings free from preconceived notions, encouraging personal interpretation and emotional response.

Aslanian’s innovative use of materials is central to her practice. Working with a diverse range of mediums—black mortar, rice paper, silk paper, wood, and acrylic—she creates a complex interplay between solidity and fragility. Black mortar often applied to wood, provides a dense, textured foundation, while the delicate rice paper adds depth and lightness. These materials allow Aslanian to experiment with layering and juxtaposition rather than relying on traditional perspective, further contributing to the abstract quality of her work.

The exhibition also reflects Aslanian’s dual cultural influences. Her Iranian heritage informs the structural abstraction and absence of figural representation in her works, while her years in Switzerland have introduced a subtler, more restrained palette of blacks and greys. These hues, rich in nuance, allow her to explore contrasts between light and shadow, presence and absence.

Ida Aslanian (b. 1957, Iran) is an Iranian-born artist of Armenian descent. She moved to Geneva in 1970, where she studied at the School of Fine Arts (1978-1982).

Ida Aslanian's body of work deconstructs and simplifies the rich tradition of Persian painting, more especially to arrive at subtle formations that evoke the spirit of this art form from the Safavid era (1501-1736). Her early works were very bright, playing on her memories of the rich Iranian visual landscape. On her move to Switzerland, she found her surroundings a constant source of inspiration. One element particularly struck her: the subdued and mysterious colors that she encountered. As a result, her oeuvres became increasingly silent and her palette darker. Inspired by Rothko, Nicholson, and Rosenberg, the constraints of her Iranian upbringing and particularly the restrictions on figural representations within Islamic culture, were pivotal in her move towards structural abstraction and representing the void.