From Supremacy to Form

Hafez Rouhani

When viewing Shabnam Eltajaei’s body of artwork, exhibited under the title “The Human Condition” at Ba Gallery, the viewer’s attention is first drawn to the square frames and the relationship between the figures that stand out against a flat, neutral background. The artist’s avoidance of vivid colors and emphasis on different shades of gray direct the gaze toward the figures, the texture of the skin, and compositions that can be described as graphic.

At this point, it seems that Eltajaei has been thinking primarily about the human body, rendering it on canvas with considerable detail in a way that openly captures the viewer’s entire attention and focus. Her avoidance of color also lends her artworks a distinctly illustrative quality, which, taken together, forms the visual identity of this young artist’s work. Looking at her earlier works (those available online), it appears that her fascination with the human figure is one of the defining characteristics of her practice, having emerged in her previous artworks as well. The difference is that she seems to have previously focused on forms such as portraits (and possibly self portraits), while the colorful execution of her earlier works suggests that, at least until this series, she could be regarded as a painter primarily focused on portraiture.

In the larger artworks, greater attention is given to the figure as a whole and its relationship with the neutral negative space of the background. In the smaller artworks, however, the artist turns to bodily details, such as fingers, or the subtle execution of models’ gestures, which at times approach a form of abstract painting. From this perspective, it appears that, contrary to what she had depicted previously, the current series marks a shift in her artistic practice. This shift seeks both to establish a relationship between the figure and its surroundings through the elimination of color and to introduce a graphic, illustrative quality by focusing on the lines and angles between them. Meanwhile, her increased attention to detail goes so far that, in some instances, a tendency toward a form of abstraction becomes apparent. In this respect, Eltajaei’s second solo exhibition, following her first exhibition, titled “Oblivion,” at Humehr Gallery in Kerman, seems to mark a change of direction in her artistic practice, revealing a new line of inquiry alongside greater mastery of her tools.

The exhibition text, written by Aidin Xankeshpour, attempts to frame the artworks through terms such as “survival,” “power,” “lust,” “domination,” and “supremacy,” presenting a perspective rooted in a pessimistic view of human nature and interpreting the works through this lens. Traces of this perspective can be found in some of the works, but it does not seem that the artist’s intentions can be adequately described through these adjectives or concepts, nor is such an interpretation necessarily required. Viewing the artworks without considering the accompanying text reveals an attempt through which the artist seems to be developing a visual language. Although this language recalls the works of several other contemporary Iranian artists, it nevertheless charts a more compelling path of exploration and inquiry for us, one that goes beyond concepts in pursuit of the discovery and understanding of form and its relationship with the human figure. Ultimately, what makes Shabnam Eltajaei’s endeavor compelling is the variety of paths she explores throughout her artistic career a trajectory driven not so much by meaning as by formalist experimentation.