Shahpour Pouyan b. 1979

Overview

Monday Recollections of Muqarnas Dome 11, 2022

Shahpour Pouyan (b. 1979, Isfahan, Iran) creates works that comment on power, domination and possession through the force of culture. His interest lies in singling out particular objects whose images captivate him, and by painting them he releases the feeling of anguish they create. Pouyan’s hooves are symbols for the aspiration of power, lonely beings with vain attempts at grandeur, which are faintly ridiculous, provoking mixed feelings of pity and contempt. The works draw their inspiration from Iranian miniatures with references to the cow as the symbol of power in the ancient cultures of Sumer, Babylon, Iran and Hinduism, emphasising the superego of male aggression throughout the centuries. He holds an MFA in Integrated Practices and New Forms from Pratt Institute, New York, and an MFA in Painting from Tehran University of Art. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Hayward Gallery, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Asia Society Museum, New York; Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Ghent; and the Aga Khan Museum, and is held in collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He lives and works in New York.

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Shahpour Pouyan

Works

Projectile 12, 2013
(Jordan), 2017
(Kyrgyzstan), 2017
(Pakistan), 2017
(Scotland), 2017
(Bangladesh), 2017
My Place is the Placeless, 2017
Untitled, 2017
Incarnation of the Body Politic, 2017-18
Iskandar visits the Ka‘ba in Mecca, 2018
After, Rustam, the great epic hero of the Iran, was lured by his treacherous half-brother to ride over a hidden pit implanted with spears, which impaled him and his trusted horse Raksh, 2018
Monday Recollections of Muqarnas Dome 7, 2021
Monday Recollections of Muqarnas Dome 11, 2022
Monday Recollections of Muqarnas Dome 14, 2022
Monday Recollections of Muqarnas Dome 15, 2022
Monday Recollections of Muqarnas Dome 16, 2022
Untitled, 2022
Untitled, 2022
Untitled, 2022
Memory Drawings, 2015-16
Exhibition View, 2011
Still Life, 2014

Related artist

Shahpour Pouyan

Biography

Monday Recollections of Muqarnas Dome 11, 2022

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Shahpour Pouyan (b. 1979, Isfahan, Iran) creates works that comment on power, domination and possession through the force of culture. His interest lies in isolating particular objects whose images captivate him, and by re-making them he releases the feeling of tension and unease they create. His hooves and architectural forms function as symbols for the aspiration of power — lonely beings with vain attempts at grandeur that appear both monumental and faintly ridiculous, provoking mixed feelings of pity and contempt. Drawing inspiration from Iranian miniatures and ancient cultures of Sumer, Babylon, Iran and Hinduism, his works often refer to the cow as a symbol of power, reflecting the persistence of authority, hierarchy and male aggression across centuries.

Pouyan studied Painting at Tehran University of Art and later received an MFA in Integrated Practices and New Forms from Pratt Institute, New York. Working across sculpture, ceramics, drawing and installation, he develops objects that resemble historical artefacts, weapons, armour or architectural fragments, using them to question how images of power are constructed, repeated and preserved through culture.

Select solo exhibitions include 249 Kilometers by 68 Meters, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris (2022); Skyhigh Is My Place, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Ghent (2021); Me thinks These Be Devils Three, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Brussels (2021); After Examining The Logbook, The Doctors Assume They Are Dealing With The Plague, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris (2019); Wūshuǐ, Copperfield, London (2018); The Incarnation of the Body Politic, The Armory Show, Focus Section, with Lawrie Shabibi, New York (2018); My Place is the Placeless, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai (2017); History Travels at Different Speeds, Copperfield, London (2015); PTSD, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai (2014); Full Metal Jacket, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai (2011); and The Hooves, Sixty Six Art Gallery, Tehran (2010).

Recent group exhibitions include Thresh(hold), Three Highgate, London (2022); Curation Fair, The Kudan House, Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, Tokyo (2022); Art Fair Tokyo, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, Tokyo (2022); Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah (2023); Strange Clay, Hayward Gallery, London (2022); Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet, Asia Society Museum, New York (2022); Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2021); Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Ghent (2021); Pera Museum, Istanbul (2020); Rubin Museum, New York (2019); Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (2019); Lahore Biennial (2018); LACMA, Los Angeles (2018); and Art Basel Hong Kong with Lawrie Shabibi (2017), among others.

His work is held in major collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the British Museum, London; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University; the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art; the Farjam Collection, Dubai; and the Afkhami Collection.

Pouyan received the Ellsworth Kelly Award for Visual Arts from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York (2022), the Kenneth Armitage Foundation Fellowship (2020–2022), the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship, Italy, and was shortlisted for the Jameel Prize at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Shahpour Pouyan lives and works in New York.

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