SELECTIONS delves into the world of acquisitions, exploring what museums and galleries have been adding to their collections in the past five years as well as featuring images and summaries of works and artists.
KAMROOZ ARAM
Bio: Iranian, b. 1978
Title: Ornament for Extraordinary Architecture,
2018
Medium: Oil, wax, oil crayon and pencil on canvas
Size: Overall: 198.12 × 426.72 × 4.13 cm
Unframed (Each Panel): 198.12 × 111.76 × 4.13 cm
Acquired by: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas
Artist represented by: Green Art Gallery, Dubai
Acquisition date: 2018
The “Ornament for Extraordinary Architecture” triptych was a part of Kamrooz Aram’s solo exhibition “Focus: Kamrooz Aram” at The Modern Museum of Forth Worth in 2018. Spanning painting, sculpture and collage, Kamrooz Aram’s work investigates the complex relationship between modernism and ornament. By highlighting their formal connections, he reveals the typically downplayed role that non-Western art and design have played in the development of modernism and its drive toward abstraction. The triptych Ornament For Extraordinary Architecture, 2018, is a composition of various ornamental motifs built upon a grid. Each canvas consists of multiple blue and white floral motifs sourced from Persian carpets, juxtaposed with white triangles, all framed by a rectangular border. The white border invites the viewer to see the compositional impact of a simple framing device. The artist’s use of these geometric motifs references various modernist traditions of abstraction, such as Suprematist painting. By merging these forms, Aram elevates the traditionally decorative floral elements to the higher position of modern painting in the Western art historical hierarchy and reveals the potential for geometric abstraction to occupy a decorative position.
Photo by Kevin Todora
Copyright: The Artist © Kamrooz Aram
Credit line: Collection of the Modern Art
Museum of Fort Worth, Gift of the Director’s Council and Museum purchase, 2018
A VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN PRINT IN SELECTIONS #55