Statement:

Leila Heller Gallery is delighted to announce the solo exhibition by Reza Derakshani, “Crowns & Leaves: The Blue Season,” opening on 25th October 2025. 

Marking his first solo show in New York in over five years, the exhibition gathers eleven paintings from three major series: Day and Night / Fig Leaf, Rain / Day, and Crowns. ///

Each is a meditation on memory and identity.

Across these bodies of work, Derakshani channels his lifelong pursuit of a visual language where history and modernity are one.

The color blue has a rich history in Persian culture and beyond, oftentimes representing nobility and divinity.

Blue also recalls the flow of the Caspian Sea and the towering presence of minaret rooftops. This exhibition explores the “blue season,” its associations, and invites us to look closer.

A crown of sapphire, 

soft as sighs

Woven with honor, bright as sunrise.

It's quiet weight, A whispered pride,

forever.

Beneath the shadow of the ancient fig tree,

The night turns blue

Rain drips like verses, cool and true

Leaves shiver,

catching silvered tears

while moonlight hums through ancient years.

A regal pulse,

The crown of sapphire,

carried through the silence of the night.

Blue rain, blue crown, blue honor,

Shadow of the fig tree

quiets my soul.