A Review on Orkideh Torabi's Show at Atrium Project

The MCA's Atrium    Project series displays a    work of Orkideh Torabi entitled "Peach House’s 5 Bucks Morning Special" at  "Atrium Project".

In the history of Iranian literature, there are many examples of humor, especially critical humor. Basically, humor is a clever reaction to the bitterness of the time. The one who is subtle and funny in her expression may be more successful in digesting her surroundings. The most prominent feature of Orkideh Torabi's works is humor; the humor and irony that is not satirized, have stings and criticisms and like a spectacular and charming image, it attracts the audience. In the work "Peach House's 5 Bucks Morning Special" of the Atrium Project, we enter a men's public bathhouse. A color transfer technique has been used to create this bathhouse.

In our visual-historical culture, the image of bath is primarily appeared in "Harun Al-Rashid in the Bath-House" by Kamal ud-Din Behzad and numerous paintings of Shirin's bathing and Khosrow's voyeuring and goes on to the assassination of Amir Kabir in Fin Bathhouse and the public bath scenes in  Qeysar movie. The common point of these bathhouses is men, who if they aren't busy bathing, are either voyeuring or committing murder. In this respect, the position of the bathhouse in Orkideh Torabi's painting itself is a remarkable choice. The first thing that catches our eyes in our mentioned bathhouse is half-naked fat men clad in a loincloth who seem carefree! One is massaging another one, one is lying, one is stepping foot in a pan, one is drinking and in short, they're obviously busy doing nothing! Busy with surplus breaks! There's a cat in the bathhouse and everyone is happy and blessed, from what? From the conquering which they haven't? From the thoughts they haven't shed? From their continuous rest. It's as if the cycle of ridicule of these handlebar mustache owners begins very quickly, they're on the road to stupidity.

A visual narrative of Ali Hatami's enduring dialogue of "Hezar Dastan": "The sleeping folk, the sleep-stricken community, the dormant society".

It seems like we've been napping after meals in the sun and so on throughout history.

Orkideh Torabi created this work with an impression of Iranian miniature. We are facing a few spaces of bathrooms, different rooms, niches, bathroom roofs, and a bit of sky.

In Iranian miniature, the cutouts of the works were small because they mainly included writing. This feature of the old paintings, in comparison to the enormous dimensions of the work of Orkideh Torabi, once again shows a sweet playfulness. On the other hand, due to the similarities of this work and Iranian miniatures, The "Harun Al-Rashid in the Bath-House" by Kamal ud-Din Behzad is evoked for us and this time it seems like Behzad's work isn't free of jokes either! About six hundred years after Behzad, an Iranian artist in the United States, with a lot of tenderness in idea and implementation, creates a work in criticism of patriarchal society which reminds us of the works of Behzad and is also very personal and has the artist's own visual accent. This is the contemporary affair that doesn't forget its roots. And the artist herself does not get lost in-between the historical grandeur of the roots.

So far, we have encountered a great image that is not oblivious to the traditions of Iranian painting; it's sweet and pleasant, whether in color or in form and humor is the main expression of the work. The main idea of Orkideh Torabi's work is criticizing the patriarchy and the social dominance of men. But she does not adopt a dark perspective to respond to the discrimination against women. Basically, she doesn't use the victims of discrimination. Instead, she only brings men to the scene! But this time she recreates the scene, creates a new society, and chooses foolish roles for them. She takes revenge on patriarchy in her own way. If the majority of men in society are totalitarians, Orkideh Torabi gives the entire expanse of her work to them generously: Gentlemen please! A world dedicated to you…

"Peach House's 5 Bucks Morning Special"  is a 21st-century great tableau that mocks the texture of the gender-based society instead of depicting the texts of Khamsa of Nizami.

The show is on view at The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago until January 2, 2022.

"Peach House’s 5 Bucks Morning Special" | Fabric color on stretched linen 2020 | 137.16 × 215.9 cm | The intellectual property rights of the image belong to the artist | Photographer: Farid Memar