Published 1 SEP 2024

Opening – 13 SEP 2024, 6-10 pm
11 SEP until 9 NOV 2024

15 SEP 2024, 2 pm – Guided tour and artist talk

Galerie Georg Nothelfer is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of new works by Iranian artist Elmira Iravanizad (*1987). The artist’s work includes small and large-format paintings in oil on canvas, sculptures made of ceramic, metal and wood and collages, which she assembles from drawings, cut-outs, paste-overs and overpaintings. She archives, arranges and reuses the remnants of her artistic work in the form of cut-outs and scraps of material.

The resulting forms move from oil painting to softly folded or playfully symbolic wall sculpture to collage and into the archive collection. Her working method combines the different genres in which she works: Layer by layer, she cuts the objects in her paintings out of the coloured background by applying black paint; layer by layer, she loosely assembles shapes cut out of paper in her collages or sticks transparent foil over drawings and colour imprints; layer by layer, she works the surface of her ceramic or wooden sculptures with pencil until they take on a metallic shine. She transforms the materials used, makes inorganic materials appear organic, gives various surfaces a painterly quality and plays with the fact that we as viewers do not immediately recognise whether an object is made of ceramic, wood or metal. In this way, the artworks remain open and accessible: they play with the magic of the unfinished and contrast perfectly finished with still raw areas, which awakens curiosity and encourages viewers to reflect. As you cannot always be sure what material a collage or sculpture is made of, you are tempted to touch it. The artist continues this invitation consistently by creating interactive, moving sculptures.

The forms, which move from artwork to artwork and from one genre to another are in a permanent state of suspension and reflect the artist’s cultural background of Iran, the urban landscapes of Tehran, London and Berlin, the connections and seemingly impossible breaches between the present and past and between different cultures.

After studying in Tehran at the FA Fine Arts and in London at the FA Art, Media and Design of the Metropolitan University, she came to the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) in 2013 with a two-year scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Fascinated by the artistic and social dynamics of the city, she continued her creative practice here and presented her work in several solo and group exhibitions (e.g. at Emkan Gallery Tehran, LAGE EGAL Curatorial Projects Berlin, Galerie oqbo Berlin). She was invited to participate in the Villa Lena Art Residency in Italy and the Artist in Residence Programme in Krems, Lower Austria. In 2024 she received a scholarship from the StiftungKulturfonds. She lives and works in Berlin.