Statement:

Guest House is hosting Tehran-based Dastan Art Gallery during Frieze week LA for an exhibition opening on Feb 17th till April 30th "Arches of Agony" features works by Kolsum Salehi, Atefeh Majidi Nezhad, Maryam Ayeen and Abbas Shahsavar, Asal Peirovi, and Pegah Ahangarani. Suggested by curator Mamali Shafahi, "Arches of Agony" reacts to the protracted unrest in Iran in tandem with images of Asal Peirovi and Atefeh Majidi Nezhad, in whose work archways stand not only for passage but for dark, unknown spaces beyond. Body parts in "Do You Feel the Pain?" (Maryam Ayeen and Abbas Shahsavar) are seen next to each other in isolated frames. The work intimates a body-with-organs, a body composed of organs detached from its totality. Traces of fossil in (monotype and paper mache on fabric) folios of Kolsum Salehi hint at extinction. Something passed on a long time ago. Instruments of torture in other works of the artist trace the insubstantiality of pain and agony. In “I Am Trying to Remember” Pegah Ahangarani unfolds a loss rooted in her childhood through the archival images and photos from her family albums.