Nicky Nodjoumi | "No More Waiting": Basel Social Club 2025

Dastan is excited to announce its participation in the fourth edition of Basel Social Club, taking place from June 15 to June 21, 2025.

This year, Dastan will present “No More Waiting” (2023), an oil on canvas by Nicky Nodjoumi. In this work, a row of Nodjoumi’s familiar, repetitive figures -- men in suits evocative of the political sphere -- stand with their arms tightly crossed over their chests. The pose evokes the image of psychiatric patients restrained in the iconic white garments, blurring the boundary between authority and madness.

In the foreground, a dynamic female figure is captured mid-run, forcefully attacking a chair and causing it to collapse. While Nodjoumi often employs such imagery to sneer at the inefficiencies of political structures, here he gestures toward transformation: the disruptive yet vital presence of women reshaping the landscape of power.

Nikzad Nodjoumi (b. 1942, Kermanshah, Iran), known also as Nicky Nodjumi, is an Iranian painter based in Brooklyn, New York. He received his B.A. in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran, and later earned an M.A. in Fine Arts from The City College of New York. Known for his large-scale figurative oil canvases, he skillfully combines historical and phantasmagorical imagery with sharp political commentaries. His compositions are straightforward, precise, and expressive, often featuring disintegrated portraits, disguised faces, clowns, and animals. Using storytelling, he piles bodies and body parts irreverently, challenging the connection between art and politics. Nodjoumi's works, influenced by social and political incidents, evoke a sense of fragmented narratives and the absurdity of power. His art has gained a significant following both in Iran and internationally.