Ramtin Zad
There was a time when Ramtin Zad would entertain us with his witty and playful subjects where certain motifs had come to be part of his repertoire in bold bright colours. Kebab skewers, watermelons, teapots and turquoise domes with elaborate Persian designs were interspersed with the random people who occupied his world. He seems to have left that place and headed out to nature to hang out with animals.
He has left the day and entered the night. In his ‘Nocturnal’ series, the night talks of the days. Days we have all been living through. He has forsaken the bright for the deep. He has focused on animals and in the process his random people have become more real.
But Zad’s new domain is an unpredictable one where something is lurking even in the seemingly lush and untouched. Here size is an issue both in the imposing nature and the beasts that roam and romp within it. The expanses of some northern unknown place covered in snow are brought into perspective by the jarring presence of monkeys. But it’s their dunce hats that define the scale. The explosion of rich autumnal trees, unstable in the distance, hangs over a waterfall where a man with all his might is locked paralyzed, hanging on to his trophy of a giant fish that is struggling to free itself from his clutches. Giant fir trees’ spiky needles substitute soft tinsel as they hang over a crowd of merry-makers in a masked ball.
Within this wild oversized nature, humankind is tested against the elements but mainly against himself and his own kind. Where humans are often asses, or wish to seem so for whatever reason. And there are bears, huge, angry bears fighting or are they dancing too in another corner of this mad soiree?
In this seemingly mythical place, if there is nobility it is in the animal and where there is ignobility it is amongst the humans who by turn find themselves omnipotent because of their sudden found size or by virtue of their smallness in what is being done in their name or to them. And then there are the fireworks that convey no sound. The crack of wings of a flock of doves taking off in Imam Reza’s shrine are more audible than the fireworks overhead. In Zad’s new works fireworks are a sign of silence.
Zad has now abandoned surface motifs and is diving deep within, stripping himself naked in a confessional. That he struggles, that he too struggles and is not immune to what has been on parade at the masquerade we have all been attending.
Ramtin Zad
1984, Tehran, Iran
Education:
Art Diploma – Payam Moasser Tehran School, Iran
BA in Graphic from Jahad University 2007
Solo Exhibitions:
• 2012 Etemad Gallery, Resurrection, Dubai, UAE
• 2010 Etemad Gallery, Miniature, Tehran, Iran
• 2009 Total Art Gallery, Backgammon, Dubai,U.A.E
• 2008 Etemad Gallery, Gonbad, Tehran,Iran
• 2007 Golestan Art Gallery, Tehran,Iran
Art Fairs
. 2014 Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
. 2013 Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
. 2011 Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey
. 2011 Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
. 2010 Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey
Selected Group Exhibitions:
• 2013 Paper Works, curated by Fereydoun Ave, Etemad Gallery, Dubai, UAE
• 2012 International art biennale, International Beijing museum, Beijing, China
• 2011 ”Pool”, Mohsen Gallery, Tehran,Iran
• 2011 “13X18”, Etmad Gallery,Tehran,Iran
• 2011 “1st Modern & Contemporary Visual art auction” ,Tehran, Iran
• 2010 Shirin Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
• 2010 ”Jungle 3” Shirin Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
• 2009 Canvas line gallery, New York,USA
• 2009 “Jungle 1” Hesabi Museum, Tehran,Iran
• 2008 Dar-al Fonoon, Kuwait
• 2008 The Nili Gallery, London
• 2008 Golestan Gallery, Tehran
• 2007 “ Collected Memories” Art Space Gallery, London
• 2007 Mah gallery, Tehran, Iran
• 2007 June Gallery, Basel,Switzerland
• 2006 “Figures & Portraits” Assar Art Gallery, Tehran
Books & Publications
. 2010 “EYE” No.28,Mahriz Pub. ,Tehran,Iran
