Afsoon, a young Iranian artist who’s getting a lot of play on the developing Middle Eastern art scene, migrated from Iran to San Francisco to London, where — as an adult — things finally clicked. Enjoying her first solo show in New York at the touted Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, Afsoon offers works from her Fairytale Icons series, which features black-and-white appropriated portraits of Iranian rulers, heads of state that brokered the WWII peace treaty in Tehran, and celebrated Muslim actors, artists, poets, princesses, musicians, and sport’s figures, such as the controversial boxer Muhammad Ali, who’s visualized surrounded by butterflies and bees.
Floating over background collages — consisting of reproductions of family photos, stamps, money, matchboxes, fabric fragments, found objects, and travel photos — the black-and-white portrayals of Afsoon’s memorable figures pop on the surface in amusing, funky ways. On view at Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery through December 23, Afsoon: The Fairytale Continues takes a nostalgic look at a time and place that continues to play a important part on the political and cultural vents that shape the world today.
Click through below for a gallery of images.
Afsoon, Muhammad Ali, 2010, Mixed media, 16.5 x 23 in / 42 x 58.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
Afsoon, Shirin, 2010, Mixed media, 16.5 x 23 in / 42 x 58.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
Afsoon, Churchill (Tehran Conference. Let’s Play Boys.), 2009, Mixed media, 16.5 x 23 in / 42 x 58.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
Afsoon, Stalin (Tehran Conference. Let’s Play Boys.), 2009, Mixed media, 16.5 x 23 in / 42 x 58.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
Afsoon, Roosevelt (Tehran Conference. Let’s Play Boys.), 2009, Mixed media, 16.5 x 23 in / 42 x 58.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
Afsoon, Forough III, 2009, Mixed media, 16.5 x 23 in / 42 x 58.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
Afsoon, Naserdin Shah, 2010, Mixed media, 16.5 x 23 in / 42 x 58.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
Afsoon, Googoosh I 2010, Mixed media, 16.5 x 23 in / 42 x 58.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
Afsoon, Takhti (Gol & Bolbol), 2009, Mixed media, 16.5 x 23 in / 42 x 58.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
Afsoon, Princess Ashraf, 2010, Mixed media, 16.5 x 23 in / 42 x 58.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
Afsoon, The King and His Queen, 2010, Mixed media, 19.5 in x 35.5 in / 89 x 49.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
Afsoon, Mosadegh, 2009, Mixed media, 16.5 x 23 in / 42 x 58.5 cm, Courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York