Abgousht Dizi (Traditional Iranian Meal)

Between 1968 and 1971, during the production of his infamous Earthworks series, Armenian-Iranian artist Grigorian created a few works depicting Abgousht Dizi, a traditional Iranian meal that was often served as lunch for the working class in traditional teahouses. Abgousht is an Iranian traditional soup made of meat, beans and chickpeas served with bread, normally Sangak, a kind of flat bread baked on hot pebbles in a big oven. The term Dizi refers to the small pot in which one portion of Abgousht is cooked and served.

Laid on top of a base of a mixture of earth and straw in a square or Kahgell motif that has become synonymous with the artist's oeuvre and was meant be a representation of sacred geometry and harmonious proportions, in the present work the artist has depicted a half-eaten lunch for two people with three generous portions. It is a reflection of the artist's fascination in the then ruling Pop Art concepts he was exposed to in America and serves as a good transition that appeared in his series of Iranian Pop Art installations when the movement was initially introduced in Iran in the early 1970s. In fact Abgousht Dizi can be seen as a direct interpretation of artist Daniel Spoerri's Snare Pictures which depicted half eaten meals in several contexts, predominantly as a follow on to Marcel Duchamp's found objects and philosophy. This series was so popular that one of them was acquired by the former Queen of Iran, Farah Pahlavi, for her personal collection.