* IT´S NOT PAINTERLY, TO LET THE SUN DROWN IN THE SEA
Neda Saeedi, May 9-26, 2025
* Installation Views
* Individual Works
* Statement
In the solo exhibition IT’S NOT PAINTERLY, TO LET THE SUN DROWN IN THE SEA at Bavan Gallery, two recent bodies of work by Neda Saeedi merge through the mediation of light.
A series of photographs—expanded iterations of the installation SINKING SUNS (2023–2024)—guide us into the gallery space, which Neda Saeedi transforms into a luna park, carefully arranged with glass sculptures, light installations, and projection machines. SINKING SUNS creates an expansive projected collage, colorfully illuminating the walls, floor, and ceiling—a sea of moods. And although the sources of this emotional scenery are visible in their fragility, we can hardly escape or resist their strength. We literally immerse ourselves in them. Being able to analyze things does not necessarily mean having control over them. What happens when all the suns set at the same time?
The second work is an iteration of the installation THE WAR HORSES WHICH RUN SWIFTLY (2025), currently on display at the Kindle Pavilion in Berlin,
A series of photographs—expanded iterations of the installation SINKING SUNS (2023–2024)—guide us into the gallery space, which Neda Saeedi transforms into a luna park, carefully arranged with glass sculptures, light installations, and projection machines. SINKING SUNS creates an expansive projected collage, colorfully illuminating the walls, floor, and ceiling—a sea of moods. And although the sources of this emotional scenery are visible in their fragility, we can hardly escape or resist their strength. We literally immerse ourselves in them. Being able to analyze things does not necessarily mean having control over them. What happens when all the suns set at the same time?
The second work is an iteration of the installation THE WAR HORSES WHICH RUN SWIFTLY (2025), currently on display at the Kindle Pavilion in Berlin,
specifically produced for this exhibition. In this new work, Neda Saeedi displays crates typically used to transport artworks. However, these crates resemble strange versions of the galloping horses typically associated with carousels in amusement parks, with fragments of classical sculptures inside them. The trained eye can discern formal references to the Pietà motif—a symbol of loss, mourning,
and compassion. Neda Saeedi’s Pietà variations also speak of pain and comfort, human fragility, and the continuous repetition of suffering. At the same time, she transfers the religious motif into a new context.
The title of the exhibition is borrowed from a poem of the same name by Farkhondeh Shahroudi (2022). This poem served as the starting point for a long conversation and collaboration with Setareh Shahbazi, which resulted in the collaborative work sunsets are not overrated (2022), presented as part of the lumbung film program at Documenta 15.
The title of the exhibition is borrowed from a poem of the same name by Farkhondeh Shahroudi (2022). This poem served as the starting point for a long conversation and collaboration with Setareh Shahbazi, which resulted in the collaborative work sunsets are not overrated (2022), presented as part of the lumbung film program at Documenta 15.
* Past Exhibitions
Ahoo Hamedi
April 18 - May 5, 2025
April 18 - May 5, 2025
Group Exhibition
April 19 - 30, 2025
April 19 - 30, 2025
A selection by Freydoun Ave
March 14 - 30 ,2025
March 14 - 30 ,2025