Orkideh Torabi
Sneak Peek: Backstage Stories
Brussels | Allard 41
September 12 – October 26, 2024
Nino Mier Gallery is pleased to announce Sneak Peek: Backstage Stories, our exhibition of the paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Orkideh Torabi. Torabi’s works are theatrical: humorous and grand, they lampoon patriarchal structures while intricately condensing a litany of art historical references from various global traditions. Our second solo show with the artist, the exhibition features a series of panel paintings and monoprinted paintings on canvas, and will be on view in Brussels from September 12 – October 26.
A keen sense for flexibility and adaptability structures both the formal processes and thematic concerns of the exhibition. Torabi, whose work has long been interested in Iranian cultural politics and the Iranian women’s movement, notes that her life experience in Iran in the past was characterized by a need to “accept and navigate boundaries beyond my control.” She parses those dynamics with humor and beauty through the exhibition’s paintings. To create them, she must embrace unpredictability, too, allowing imperfections to shape the narrative of her work. The volatility of the monoprinting process especially informs the final forms of Torabi’s canvases: she paints a screen with one color of dye, then transfers it onto cotton or canvas. She repeats the painting and printing process with various hues for up to fifty layers. This process embraces unpredictability, allowing imperfections to shape the narrative of her work.
To inform the compositions of her scenes, Torabi turns to art history. For instance, many of the works quote masterpieces by artists such as Caravaggio and Leonardo Da Vinci. For example, Sprinkles from Heaven humorously reinterprets Caravaggio's St. Matthew and the Angel, presenting the angel offering ice cream to Saint Matthew instead of engaging in divine discourse. This playful twist challenges traditional religious narratives and invites viewers to reconsider the nature of authority.
Torabi also displays a strong interest in the genre of royal portraits, historical representations of people in power meant to express their virtues to viewers. Torabi’s paintings, however, subvert these conventions, depicting figures with exaggerated, whimsical features that reveal vulnerability and absurdity instead. “I saw an opportunity to use these settings to create my own narrative, depicting figures with clownish appearances, elongated noses, and a sense of confusion to challenge conventional images of authority,” says Torabi. In Cat Nap Gone Wrong, for instance, a royal figure receives unexpected bad news while casually on the phone, juxtaposed with an oversized ruff collar rendering absurd an accessory that would otherwise represent refinement and elegance. Similarly, No Filter, No Chill captures a royal figure examining their reflection with dissatisfaction, underscoring the emotional vulnerabilities that often lie beneath formidable personas.
The artist's recent visit to Iran significantly influenced this body of work, especially her panel paintings. “I visited Golestan Palace in Tehran, which is adorned with intricate tiles and patterns throughout its structure. These ornate designs, often featuring images of royalty, inspired me to create organic shapes as backgrounds for my portraits.” Supplanting the royal state portraits of dignified men often found nestled in the center of the framing designs, Torabi instead opts for figures that laugh, cry, or that appear confused. For the artist, “this humanizes the figures and exposes their flaws, contrasting sharply with the typical stoic and majestic depictions in state portraits.” Elsewhere, Torabi incorporates the intricate floral motifs of Tashir, a decorative pattern often found in Persian miniatures, blending traditional Persian aesthetics with contemporary themes. The incorporation of Tashir-inspired floral motifs surrounding her subjects pays homage to her Iranian aesthetics while also challenging conventional representations of nobility.
Orkideh Torabi (b. 1979, Tehran, Iran; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an MFA in Painting and Drawing in 2016. Since then, she has had solo exhibitions at Horton Gallery, New York (2017); Interface Gallery, Oakland (2018); Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica (2017, 2019); Western Exhibitions, Chicago (2016, 2019); at the Museum of Contemporary Art Atrium, Chicago (2021); and Salon Nino Mier, Cologne (2021), Half Gallery, New York (2022) among others. Her work has been covered by many publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Artillery, Hyperallergic, Lenny Letter and the Chicago Reader.