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Bijan Akhgar
In
Circulation/Un
Circulation
is the product
of Bijan
Akhgar’s
perpetual
fascination with
a subject he has
been painting
since 2007.
According to the
artist, however,
the obsession
dates back to
much older
times, to when
he was a child.
The temporal
continuity in
which Akhgar’s
paintings are
created has now
turned to a
history through
which the
process of the
changes he has
gone through and
the essence of
his
deliberations
could be
detected.
In all these
years, Bijan
Akhgar has
chosen bus as
his favorable
theme. Whether
or not a solid
and inflexible
idea such as a
bus could turn
to a painting,
and which human
emotions and
sentiments it
would represent
even if painted,
are not the
matter of
question here
and even
unrelated to the
act of painting.
This, rather
speaks more of
the exhausting
efforts of a
painter. What
matters, in
fact, is to
pursue the
creative process
that should
supposedly exist
in the work of
an artist and to
observe how
aware the artist
is of such
process and
whether s/he has
control over it
or not, without
trying to add
any extra
meaning to a
work beyond what
it essentially
has to say.
Painting deals
with eyes more
than anything
else. It deals
with vision and
understanding
and rationale of
seeing. Limiting
yourself to
seeing a
particular
object and
constantly
thinking about
it, or to become
one with the
object in other
terms, could be
acknowledged as
an artistic
approach. An
object can be
distanced from
its ordinary
representational
significance and
by touching down
at its physical
and sensible
essence, one can
realize its
impact and
influences and
picture it in a
way that would
add magnificence
to a painting.
Two parallel
approaches (and
contradictory in
my opinion) can
be spotted in
the way Bijan
Akhgar deals
with his
subject, in both
his latest
series and all
other paintings
that share the
same idea.
In the first
approach, the
painter sees his
subject visually
and looks at the
color, lines,
the space it
occupies, the
texture and its
realistic
structure before
he paints it. In
the overall
compositions of
his paintings,
Akhgar’s winning
technique is his
creative and
defined use of
color when it
comes to
outlining his
objects. With
his delicate and
free
brushstrokes,
paint flows on
his canvas and
forms hatches.
He creates rough
and uneven
surfaces by
applying
different bodies
of paint and
gives a live
texture to the
painting, affect
the colors he
uses and adds
depth,
dimension,
movement and a
beating rhythm
to each
composition.
Iran-National
Express,
for instance, is
a good example
of a balanced
composition. The
components have
shaped a
cohesive and
harmonic
totality in
which the
subject is
illustrated with
an accentuated
corporality and
a sensual
sensation. This
is not simply a
representation,
it is a
painting.
In the second
approach, the
subject is still
the same. The
only difference
here is the
secondary
expectations and
demands of the
artist. By using
definite social
and historical
significances as
a pretext, the
painter tries to
portray the
subject in a way
to convey a
message beyond
what it visually
embraces. The
subject is
supposed to be
more than just
an object here.
It is to be a
character so as
to say. The
painter tries to
picture the
image of a bus
as a human
character. In
this approach,
unlike the first
one, humanistic
concepts count
and they cause
the independent
existence of an
object to become
of less
importance
compared to the
conscious
intentions of
the artist. In
this approach, a
painting’s
visual
significance and
the lyricism of
the imagery are
confiscated to
the interest of
concept. Image
loses its
independent
character, and
concepts and
connotations are
imposed on the
painting from
the outside.
Expression finds
a vague and
abstract tone
while the visual
components of a
painting still
refer to
realistic
appearances. The
dynamic realism
of the image is
lost. The
extrapersonal
aspects of an
artwork are
victimized,
being
influential and
impressive turns
to being neutral
and form and
color become
unreceptive and
lose their
dynamism.
Furthermore, the
live bond that
existed [between
viewers and a
painting] by
which the
painter could
make a strong
impact on its
audiences is all
gone in an
instant.
In In
Circulation/Un
Circulation III,
there is a
painting in
which the
painter has
succeeded to
control the
totalitarian
desire of
concept: Body.
This painting is
a spontaneous
synthesis of
human conditions
and
metamorphosis
and decay of an
object. The
object (the body
of the bus) has
found a
character of
human blood and
flesh. As if
human and object
collide in a
certain point in
the painting and
the collision
that is somehow
on the verge of
deterioration
and ruin, speaks
of a determined
fate they share
equally:
objects, like
human beings,
experience
gradual erosion
and
deterioration in
silence and
isolation and
eventually die.
Bijan is a
painter with a
rich knowledge
of the color and
the form of what
he paints. He
means to paint
his subject in
well-spaced and
accurate
compositions and
tries to realize
it through an
already lived
experience in a
social-historical
prospect. This
is a very
difficult
obligation that
should be
pursued in his
work in the
course of time.
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