The Language of Symbols

Press Release:

James Cohan is pleased to present Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian: The Language of Symbols, an exhibition of drawings and related sculptural works by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, on view from June 23 through August 5 at 48 Walker Street. The gallery will host an opening reception celebrating its summer exhibitions at 48 and 52 Walker on Thursday, June 23 from 6-9 PM.

Over a career spanning six decades, the Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian (1922 - 2019) looked to geometric forms and her Persian heritage as the basis for a rigorously structured and endlessly inventive exploration of the possibilities of line and space. This exhibition explores the ways in which drawing lies at the heart of Monir’s multivalent practice, bringing together never-before-seen expressive early works on paper with later geometric drawings to demonstrate the medium’s significance as a place for the artist to exercise spatial thinking and create her own language of symbols on a singular plane.