Lot 38: MASSOUD ARABSHAHI (IRAN, BORN 1935) Abstract Composition in Brown oil

MASSOUD ARABSHAHI (IRAN, BORN 1935) Abstract Composition in Brown oil on canvas signed Arabshahi and dated 1974 in Farsi (upper right) 120 x 110cm (47 1/4 x 43 5/16in).

Provenance Property from a private collection, Dubai Massoud Arabshahi is one of the key protagonists of the Iranian neo-traditionalist movement, and notably one of the few artists of his generation to pursue this agenda through abstraction and not calligraphy. Fascinated by the textual, architectural and mathematical elements of traditional Persian imagery, Arabshahi’s work is punctuated by motifs which carry strong metaphorical significance. All this is done with an unequivocally modern and wholly abstract aesthetic. The pseudo-figurative crowned central figure that Arabshahi employs in the present work recall the depictions of ancient Persian Kings in rock reliefs of the kind found at Persepolis, Behistun and Pasargade. The mixture of geometrical and angular shapes, zoomorphic and anthropic forms all contain esoteric significance for Arabshahi. An artist enraptured by the recurrence of symbols, his works are riddled with semiotic iconography: arc shapes denote the perfection of celestial geometry and abstract glyphs recall ancient Persian cuneiform, their indiscernibly a testament to the extinction of the culture that once gave them meaning.