The recent series of paintings by Nusratollah Moslemian typically demonstrates a gradual, measured change comparing the previous ones. His painting career characteristically develops in a slow and steady pace, with each series representing variations to a certain extent. To him -in accordance with Greenberg’s creed- the artistic mission to explore the possibilities of painting as a medium is the main priority. Mosslemian’s persistence in this inquiry through four decades has led to a body of work distinguished among other practices within the Iranian contemporary art scene.

Moslemian’s painting continuum is characterized by the expansion and suspension of visual elements, the disintegration of the space, and a paradoxical text. His characteristic spatio-temporal arrangement of the pictorial field involves the simultaneous existence of several visual languages in a single image. The paintings are, then, comprised of many fragments juxtaposed in a collage-like organization: flat colour fields, contour drawings, carefully rendered representational elements (figures or portraits), expressive brushstrokes, geometrical motives, and everyday textures. These elements create various “regions” which altogether constitute Moslemian’s world of painting. The regions act like instruments in a symphony, constantly altering in their strength of feebleness in each painting, and this dynamism continues in all Moslemian’s work.

Helia Darabi