EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN
SITUATIONS Gallery, Chelsea, New York, NY
Sept 3 - Oct 16, 2024
SITUATIONS is pleased to present Everywhere in Between, Abdolreza Aminlari's third solo exhibition with the gallery. A new suite of works on paper handmade by the artist emphasize color vibration, singular imagery, and the physicality of their materials, exploring geometric abstraction through the lens of memory and lived experience.
While in-residence at Penland School of Craft in early 2024, Aminlari handcrafted the papers that appear throughout the exhibition. Papermaking first entered his practice in 2021, through an invitation from Dieu Donné to learn and collaborate at the renowned Brooklyn-based paper studio. Embracing the material's organic qualities, Aminlari has continued to develop his distinct approach, offsetting and manipulating layers of custom-dyed pulp. Contrasting colors emerge from the reverse to the fore, surfacing at the edges and reflecting an ambient glow. Vivid saturated hues recall spring blooms on overdrive, as lilacs, deep violets, and spearmint meet near-fluorescent yellows and pinks.
Individual icons appear in many of the works, meticulously hand-embroidered with common sewing or deadstock 24-karat gold thread once used to embellish kimonos. Their hard edged, geometric appearance derives from motifs Aminlari recalls from memory, referencing his childhood through the textiles and other patterned objects seen in the homes of friends and relatives. Symbols of birds, mammals, and plants shift and converge through the erosion of memory, introducing a malleability to both their form and interpretation. At large scale, the solid color of the stitched shapes screen the contrasting paper below, producing a moire-effect that shifts along with one's perspective. Yellow ochre embroidery punctuates an undulating pink surface in the exhibition's most sculptural example. Projecting out from the wall, the paper's fibers seem to collect and spillover at the lower-left, revealing flecks of purple, magenta, and a golden hue matching the cotton thread .
Two handmade paper works on linen foreground the topographical qualities of the paper itself. Each bi-color composition feels molten, the equally bright tones of cotton and abaca fibers appearing to rise and recede, perturbing one's sense of depth. The mesh of the deckle box imprints a subtle grid within the paper's fibers, a system of order overlaying an invented landscape.
The exhibitions' title speaks to an interstitial space, as in the tiny gap between each stitch, as well as a state of in-betweenness, a term he often uses when referring to his shape-shifting iconography. Interpreted through a diasporic experience, this sentiment echoes a sense of feeling between cultures, countries, generations over time.
