ArteEast introduces the drawings and photography of Ali Kaaf, which are explorations of black itself -- as a color, a material and formal presence, and a set of possibilities and foreclosures. More broadly, Kaaf’s works are visual discussions of the contrasts of light and form and their material possibilities. These discussions draw on, but are not limited to, different international histories of modernism. Critics have also highlighted a Sufi element to his work. And they have welcomed its concern with artistic questions unrelated to the political, in contrast to much of the art from the Middle East featured in Western arts institutions. Indeed, Kaaf’s work reflects an intense interest with materiality among many artists working in the Middle East, but so rarely acknowledged elsewhere. It reminds us of the necessary freedom of all artists to engage formal and material questions, and the truly international history of that process. Born in Algeria of Syrian descent, Kaaf graduated from the Lebanese University and later trained at the Universitat der Kunste in Berlin. His bright future was recently recognized when he was awarded Germany’s prestigious Daad Prize. Since 1999, he has exhibited in Amman, Beirut, and Berlin. He is currently an artist in residence with Solidere’s Beirut reconstruction program, and this exhibition features new work that is simultaneously showing at an exhibition at Beirut Central in Lebanon.

Read about Ali Kaaf

ArteEast is excited to present the extraordinary paintings of Golnaz Fathi, a young artist living and working in Tehran. Her works are at once painterly explorations of color and form that integrate largely illegible calligraphy, as well as open-ended invitations to meditate on the silence and randomness that they often present. The viewers’ imagination is piqued by the symbols, numbers, and letters, often arranged in what seem to be formulas that carry history and significance, but do they? Originally trained as a calligrapher, Fathi situates her works in constant relationship to the calligraphic tradition, graphic design, and the dialogue between Iranian and European modernisms. Although transnational in conception and execution, her works reveal interests that are strikingly different from those of Iranian exile artists with whom Western audiences are most familiar. We invite you to take a look.

Read about Golnaz Fathi