Statement:

Assar Art Gallery in Collaboration with 009821 Gallery Presents: "On the Verge of Forgetting", a Solo Exhibition of Paintings by Farzad Shekari.

The current show is the 11th in a series of exhibitions presented by Assar Art Gallery in close collaboration with other galleries as it relocates to a new space.

On the Verge of Forgetting marks Farzad Shekari’s fourth solo exhibition, presenting 14 oil on digital print. The show continues the artist’s research-driven and project-based practice, characterized by a layered approach to image-making, both conceptually and formally.

Developed over two and a half years, the series draws on Shekari’s engagement with films, documentaries, and Erich Fromm’s Escape from Freedom, whose ideas on the fear of autonomy inform the works.

Continuing his exploration of historical and social themes, including war as addressed in his previous exhibition, Defaced (2023) at Emkan Gallery, Shekari examines systems of power by drawing parallels between political dictatorships and hierarchical religious institutions.///

The project is rooted in visual and archival research. Over six months, Shekari gathered nearly 3,000 historical photographs—beginning with images of dictators and extending to their cultural and social contexts. Guided by conceptual coherence rather than formal aesthetics, he creates visual harmony across diverse sources.

The images are arranged as diptychs or single frames divided into two to four fragments, often juxtaposing the oppressor and the oppressed.

These fragments—taken from one or several photographs—vary in size and arrangement: placed side by side, seamlessly merged, or overlaid to heighten ambiguity and invite layered interpretation.

Each composition establishes formal and conceptual resonance while maintaining cohesion across the series.

After being arranged and manipulated, the images were printed on photographic paper and transformed through oil painting interventions.

The printed image serves as a guide, not a fixed reference, allowing Shekari to distort, erase, and reconfigure it into a new visual identity.

This image-based process continues a conceptual thread in his practice while the technique’s possibilities enabled him to scale up the works compared to earlier exhibitions.

Predominantly monochrome, the paintings retain the black-and-white character of their archival sources. Through the deliberate use of black, white, and gray, Shekari shapes the works’ form and atmosphere, without letting tone assert itself as an independent language.

Farzad Shekari (b. 1987, Zahedan) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tehran. He holds a BA in Graphic Design from the Azad University of Zahedan. His work has been shown in Iran, Italy, and Switzerland, including solo exhibitions at Emkan Gallery and Aaran Projects.