Hossein Maher’s work is imbued with a desire to unravel the many pasts that inhabit his country. He thus draws on a variety of mythological and historical images to situate imbricated histories together with his personal memories of the many places that he has visited and experienced. In his most recent works “Monuments” and “Legends” he re-visits the highly codified traditions of Persian miniature painting together with ancient mythology to create territories where the past is rescued from archives and memoirs. A recurring formal aspect of his work is a grid-like composition—as in the work “The Ten Commandments”—or a cross like the composition as in the works “Contemplation” or “Threat”.

Dr. Simone Wille