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Lot Essay
Iraqi born artist Hayv Kahraman uses her work to confront the marginal spaces between Western and Middle Eastern cultures, tackling issues such as gender inequalities, honour killings, war and aesthetics through her personal history as an Iraqi newcomer to Europe and ultimately the United States. With creatively refined and delicate works, her stylistic approach to painting manifests itself through a fusion of Arabic and Japanese calligraphy, Persian miniatures, Greek iconography and Art Nouveau. In this particular piece, she cleverly refers to a mundane form of portraiture from the Italian Renaissance.
Additionally, her highly polished painting technique is emphasised by the juxtaposition of the real fabric of the canvas and the painted patterns, which enhance a sense of spatial illusion.
In the present work, the psyche of the individual is effectively echoed by the choice of technique, colour and lining. With barely any effects of luminosity or movement, basic and straightforward shapes, autumn-like tones, the overall feeling of the work gives us a sense of absence, desperation and numbness. While the underlying questions of diaspora and gender have always been catalysts in her work, Kahraman's paintings are filled with an essence of feminism and grace. By doing so, Kahraman focuses on the controversies of semiotics, forcing the viewer to reflect upon aspects one otherwise would refuse to see.
The artist is equally fascinated by the idea of dismemberment, through which she portrays the mutilated self, physically and psychologically, as if to allude to the emotional state of a refugee. Kahraman chooses not to contextualize her floating characters in order to avoid being too didactic and rather places them on a clear, empty background, emphasising on the attachment to her own familiar space. Through her delicate works, Kahraman subtly questions the role occupied by women in societies worldwide while she evokes her own preoccupations as an artist in diaspora.
Additionally, her highly polished painting technique is emphasised by the juxtaposition of the real fabric of the canvas and the painted patterns, which enhance a sense of spatial illusion.
In the present work, the psyche of the individual is effectively echoed by the choice of technique, colour and lining. With barely any effects of luminosity or movement, basic and straightforward shapes, autumn-like tones, the overall feeling of the work gives us a sense of absence, desperation and numbness. While the underlying questions of diaspora and gender have always been catalysts in her work, Kahraman's paintings are filled with an essence of feminism and grace. By doing so, Kahraman focuses on the controversies of semiotics, forcing the viewer to reflect upon aspects one otherwise would refuse to see.
The artist is equally fascinated by the idea of dismemberment, through which she portrays the mutilated self, physically and psychologically, as if to allude to the emotional state of a refugee. Kahraman chooses not to contextualize her floating characters in order to avoid being too didactic and rather places them on a clear, empty background, emphasising on the attachment to her own familiar space. Through her delicate works, Kahraman subtly questions the role occupied by women in societies worldwide while she evokes her own preoccupations as an artist in diaspora.