LONDON.- On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Dorothy Circus Gallery presents the first UK solo exhibition by the renowned Tehran-based, Iranian artist, Afarin Sajedi.

This solo show inaugurates DCG London’s 2019 exhibition programme: Turning Page. Sajedi’s exhibition, titled, ECCE MULIER, takes inspiration from the psychoanalytic analysis of the feminine depths observed first by Goethe and then by Jung, and acknowledged as the source of the creative power of the unconscious.

Sajedi received classical pictorial training and her expressive path is intertwined with magical symbolism and the most contemporary influences of American Pop Surrealism and Asian Neo-pop. She powerfully and courageously synthesises the thoughts of postmodern women with female emotional patterns that relate to multiple experiences and existential conditions. The result is a rich psychological portrait that explores the inner spiritual nature and coexistence of love and strength in the maternal myth.

In a bold duel of light and shadows, Sajedi explores the dreams, solitudes, battles and goals of the universal woman. The large canvases of the artist convey a message rich in alchemical, religious and literary symbols. She inventively overcomes any temporal or cultural barriers while shedding more light and offering further understanding of the contemporary woman.

The intense and ironic large paintings re-evoke female archetypes from Goethe’s, Kingdom of the Mothers, to elaborate Shakespearean characters, the surreal adventures in the writings of Miguel de Cervantes and Italo Calvino, to the films of Lars von Trier, until reaching—with the artwork, You Look Ready—the most extreme form of contemporary mythologies thanks to the sublime re-interpretation of The Bride from Quentin Tarantino’s critically acclaimed film, Kill Bill.

In choosing to open the exhibition on International Women’s Day, Sajedi seeks to display a veiled but refined allusion to the process of construction and deconstruction of female social identity. The suffering and frustration of unacceptable violence that continues to afflict women and their emancipation are expressed by the red eyes, bitten lips and warm cheeks of the heroic characters.

With this exhibition, Dorothy Circus Gallery emphasises its constant commitment and keen interest in the representation and iconography of women in the art world. The gallery’s 2019 curatorial programme will dedicate particular attention to maternity and the relationship between humanity and the creative process. It is a theme that takes inspiration from the nadir of this last decade and symbolises the closing moment, the last visible light before nightfall, the last moment in which we are conscious, just before turning to a new chapter, a new decade towards new knowledge, understanding, and humanity.

Afarin Sajedi was born in 1979 in Shiraz, Iran. She studied at the Azad University of Tehran where she received her degree in Graphic Design, and currently lives and works in Tehran. During her childhood, Sajedi demonstrated a great interest and talent in drawing and through her family was introduced to the Italian Renaissance at an early age, which has deeply influenced her style in later life, most notably in her realistic portraits of ‘gentlewomen’ resembling Renaissance female depictions. She is also highly influenced by Heinrich Böll’s, The Clown, and by Gustav Klimt. Her creativity, technique, and strength of character have also ensured her a prominent position in the Iranian art world form the very start of her career.

Among the subjects that she loves to depict, such as Japanese-inspired figures, clowns, and theatrical characters, women are consistently at the centre of her work. Her stunning paintings are characterised by a central female figure on a plain coloured background. Sajedi’s large compositions focus on the inner strength and suffering of women. Bizarre forks, fish, and clothes are tightly fixed to her subject’s heads creating the most surreal and austere headwear.

Sajedi has exhibited in many exhibitions and art fairs in Tehran with Etemad Gallery, which represents her in Iran. In 2013, she had her first European solo show in Rome, Italy, when she was invited to display her artworks at the prestigious, Palazzo Valentini, for the exhibition, Inside Her Eyes. She also exhibited in Rome alongside the renowned USA-based artists, Colin Christian and Sas Christian, and Italian artist, Francesca Di Nunzio, at the four-person show, God is her Deejay, curated by Dorothy Circus Gallery Rome, which was followed by a solo exhibition of her work at the same gallery in 2016. In 2o15, Sajedi was invited by La Cité Internationale Des Arts to undertake a three-month art residency in Paris, France. In the same year, her artworks were also featured in a prestigious art fair in the Principality of Monaco, and also at SCOPE Art Fair in New York, USA. Her works are collected by influential international collectors and are also included in the reputed Venetian contemporary art collection, Marin.