Fluid Dream
solo exhibition (BA thesis)
Isfahan University of Art gallery,
Isfahan, Iran, February 2008
Fluid Dream is the title of a collection of wood carvings created for my undergraduate thesis project, accompanied by a text and a collection of photographs that I captured during the project. When creating these works, I established a sensory connection with the various wood types and shaped the final forms according to the visual characteristics of each kind of wood. By using my sense of touch, I achieved the desired result. I didn’t use power tools during the project; instead, I crafted my own. These custom-made tools were created, either entirely or partially, to maintain the minimum distance from the material.
The body of wood carvings in Fluid Dream was created to achieve a genuine relationship between tools, material, and the artist. However, the main approach of the project was a search for purity and the relationships formed through the course of my artistic life.
At that time, according to the faculty thesis rules, students had to prepare a report on their projects implementation processes and include visual material of the final works to be published. However, I didn’t think it made sense to write a report on a work of art; that’s why I started writing an independent text for my dissertation. The central part of the attached text’s concept was not focused on art theory but was structured using daily notes rather than analytic arguments. The structure of my writing combined daily notes and quotes from my studies. The rule of the text was such that I decided not to make any structural arrangements for it. Therefore, any daily notations, quotes, and discussions remained in the same chronological sequence within my written piece. My intention was not to write a theoretical or literary text because I wanted to write in a fluid form similar to the idea behind my artworks. Fluid Dream text does not hold any specific subject.
One of the effects of the Fluid Dream project was to try to make a clear connection between writing and visual art. Additionally, the process and concerns about my creating art are addressed in the text. Fluid Dream is a uniquely emotion-driven story.
Slumbered Nature photo collection
Perhaps the ultimate goal for an artist, or anyone involved with working with wood, is to go into nature and simply observe it; this was one of the last conversations that I had with Kamal Masaeli, my thesis tutor, about wood while writing the dissertation. Simple yet complex observation means that a deep reflection is formed through looking. This time, the artistic work from start to finish is just looking, without “making” anything in the conventional sense.
The photo collection titled Slumbered Nature consists of 61 frames and was exhibited alongside my dissertation works as part of the Fluid Dream project in the format of an artist’s book. The photos feature close-up frames of various tree bark textures, mostly taken in urban environments over approximately seven months.
