Art News

East Central Gallery to Present a Collaborative Exhibition by Iranian Artists

LONDON.- East Central will present an exhibition curated by Nour Wali of collaborative works by Iranian artists Shoja Azari and Shahram Karimi, showcasing for the first time in a London gallery their revolutionary artistic approach, which intertwines the media of painting and video. Five artworks from the so-called “Oil Series” will surround viewers, re-creating a cinematic experience through the canvases’ glow of mesmerising colours. Referring to the first Gulf War, and presented in the darkened subterranean floor of East Central, the “Oil Series” depicts scenes of deserts aflame, with fires scorching the skies, smoke bellowing in the wind, a soldier disappearing into misty horizons and tanks reining over ashen land. The works sample images from Werner Herzog’s film “Lessons of Darkness”, with scenes slowed, edited and reframed by Azari, projected as brief looping videos onto