"In his quest to probe and extract the essence of early to mid 20th century modernism in an Iranian context, Farhad Ahrarnia acutely adopts the language and techniques of 'Khatam' marquetry and 'Tazhib'. These mark making devices are used as multi-faceted filters and prisms for detection, viewing and re-articulation of underrepresented histories of other moderns and alternative modernities! Meanwhile the city of Shiraz continues to be a muse, by revealing subtle traces of contemporary living deeply rooted in previous century's modernist projects. Concurrently, the artist sheds light and exposes the constitutive and formal characteristics of 'Tazhib' and 'Khatam' making, as eternally modern and self-referrential artistic means, for their infinite mathematical variations and endless elf-mutating possibilities." Houshang Delavar
First published in a limited edition of 500 by Atelier Farvardin in 2017.
