Statement:

SARAI Gallery (SARADIPOUR) is pleased to present Claustrophobia, Iranian painter Mohammad Khalili's latest series of paintings and monoprint drawings at SARAI Gallery. Claustrophobia opens on February 24 and it will continue to run until March 10, 2023.

As the title would suggest, Claustrophobia offers Mohammad Khalili's (1971) closest, tightest encounter with his favorite subjects: worn out structural blocks; so close that the sky and any other source of light are reduced in the composition in favor of menacingly enclosing cement blocks, cylinders and jersey barriers. The present series consists of a selection of large paintings and monoprints that the artist began to create in 2019 after being attracted to a set of derelict, roadside structures on a trip to northern Iran. Khalili was particularly captivated by the way sturdy, heavy geometric units were stacked upon each other without any mortar or other binding elements, making the resultant form ironically rather unstable and fragile to the external forces of nature. Khalili has once again let water - his favorite element since childhood due to its reflective and fluid properties - penetrate these rigid and richly textured landscapes. Here, both the visual and sensual contrast between water and monolithic blocks are heightened thanks to the intimacy of elements in these tight spaces. Claustrophobia's landscapes ultimately inspire a sense of initial calm followed by anxiety, as the viewers gaze upon aging structures at the mercy of an 'unpredictable future'.