Rotary Descent

Mahdieh Abolhasan received her drawing training from Iranian drawing artist Farhad Gavzan, and this strong foundation has set the tone for most of her career. For years, her creations have been combinations of manipulating surfaces and volumes of various media with a distinct drawing-oriented approach, "expanding drawings," as she would like to call them. In a reductive sculpting process, she often begins her work by making a dense mass of many layers of her handmade papers and other materials such as aluminum or mirror. She then "attacks" the mass, taking away bits and layers by making cuts and holes or burning marks into the 'skin' and 'flesh' of her volumes to achieve her desired forms and expressions. These forms simultaneously exist on both flat and three-dimensional realms. In a face-to-face encounter, the deep cuts turn into marks that blend into drawing gestures and textures appearing on the 'skins' or rather the 'faces' of these creations, creating new and different impressions. Her works are known for their strong, almost industrial craftsmanship, physical resilience, and their tactile, interactive quality.

The artist's creative acts are both constructive and destructive; a process which to her is "just like our modern lives." We keep creating, destroying, connecting, and cutting layers of our existence, our achievements, our relationships with others, and our surrounding environment. There is also a keen inquisitor side to her works. An excavation into the unknown, a desire to find the original layers, the beginning of the story, the self! And sometimes, what we encounter and the deep end is indeed ourselves! Mahdieh's works, in a way, also offer chances for us to probe into ourselves, and they are full of surprises in the form of tiny, unexpected mirrors. For the artist, mirrors not only provide the viewers with a chance for introspection but, more profoundly, they represent a metaphysical, atemporal universe capturing the viewers' presence and making them part of the visual narrative of the work; a component of the work.

What encourages us, perhaps more than ever before, to meet these 'wounded' creatures is the fact that several of them were born during the cataclysmic and isolating COVID19 pandemic. Their marks bear physical and poignant testimonies to our collective experience. And indeed, they have an undeniable individuality to them; a strong presence. Just like us, some of them are more reserved, more introverted, while others are open and 'happy' to share their inner stories with us, page by page and layer by layer. Some seem lonely, while others only feel complete when their identity is presented together with their twins. Like any other work of art, they only truly come alive when they are seen, felt, and in some cases, looked into. All in all, Mahdien Abolhasan's works bear marks of time passed, of a life fully lived, with all its lacks and blessings. They are defined and shaped by their 'wounds,' which makes them instantly identifiable and humane.

In 2020, Mahdieh became the winner of the "Khor Art Initiative." Artist and jury member Katie Grinnan particularly praised her works for their layered topographic and historical aspects and the "dynamic nature of the layers," which allowed for shifting forms and structures, creating a complex narrative. Mahdieh also engages in performance art and land art.