A Note on Shabahang Tyyari's Show at Balice Hertling

With "My Back to the World" is the second solo exhibition by Shabahang Tayyari at Galerie Balice Hertling in Paris, running from January 30 to March 14, 2026. Born in 1987 in Khalkhal, Iran, and based in Karaj, Tayyari has developed a distinctive visual language that operates between painting and narrative, infusing his compositions with humor, humility, and a keen sense of defiance. The works on view, ranging from intimate gouaches on paper to sculptural pieces and paintings on velvet, expand on motifs both personal and symbolic, from ducks in shiny colors to figures of hearts and fabric constructions that suggest bodies without depicting them outright.

In the statement, Tayyari’s practice is framed as one rooted in resilience and inventive self-definition. The exhibition title, borrowed from the artist Agnes Martin, signals an approach to artmaking that deliberately faces away from the noise and pressures of the world, embracing isolation not as withdrawal but as endurance. Through this gesture, painting becomes an act of persistence and resistance, the work insists on its own logic, tone, and poetics, often blending tender absurdity with sharper, visceral imagery like “hairy backs” that conjure traditional Persian kabab or boldly chained hearts that seem to pulse with emotion.

Tayyari’s rich imaginative field evokes both personal biography and broader emotional terrain. The press release situates his subjects ‘on the surface’ with no need for background, creating a space where humor, pride, and defiance operate simultaneously. Whether in the playful absurdity of the ducks motif or the stark titles like “With My Back to the World”, the exhibition invites viewers to consider what it means to inhabit one’s own terms artistically and in contexts where existence itself can be an act of defiance, how creativity can function as both survival and revolt.

Cover and Slider Images: 

• balicehertling.com