Lot 41: * Jazeh Tabatabai (Iran, 1931-2008) Fifi

Jazeh Tabatabai (Iran, 1931-2008)
Fifi assemblage of car partsexecuted in 196889 x 38cm (35 1/16 x 14 15/16in).

Provenance:Property from a private collection, BaltimoreAcquired directly from the Artist by the present owner in Iran, 1968Jazeh Tabatabai, the Iranian avant-garde painter, poet and sculptor, was one of the pioneers of modern art in Iran. Jazeh's first medium of self-expression was the written word: he published his first book at the age of twelve. Believing that different ideas demand different media, Jazeh explained, "For some I need colour, for some I need three-dimensional sculpture, for some movement, and for some words. I have sought rather to enlarge my capacity for expression through mastering a wide-range of techniques."Working in metal, Jazeh's playful sculptures possess an artistic sensibility, dancing in the junkyards of modern technology. Jazeh assembled these astonishing sculptures from metal gaskets, cylinder valves, coils, crankshafts and spring's gearboxes and a range of scrap parts. Bolted, welded and screwed together into various amalgamations, they appear to have been spontaneously born in some mysterious industrial womb. Movement is a central factor in the character of all the sculptures. The works are built in such a way that their component parts can be moved. The artist's wish was for the viewer to participate by changing the sculptures and setting them in motion for themselves.