Torna
Keiman Mahabadi
Keiman Mahabadi creates his works by collecting images and reproducing them. Interested in social media and how innumerable images are presented in the media, he gets the ideas for his paintings and drawings from the image data he encounters daily. By separating the images from their context and background, Keiman provides a new context for looking at and interpreting the work, this time it is the experience, geography, concerns, and interests of the viewer that give meaning to the image. This playful act of deletion and alteration allows the artist to have a personal and social exploration. The materials Keiman uses for his art are ink and paper, which have historically had a close association with the media and the communication of the ideas to the public.
In the "Torna" series, Keiman has reviewed and reproduced scenes from a classic film "Kandoo" (beehive) directed by Fereydoun Gole in his drawings. In the exhibition "Torna", he has created images that are in many ways similar to the illustrations of comic books. However, by removing the narrative background, he leaves some room for the interpretation and intervention of the viewer, thereby allowing the image to be linked to the audience's background and establishing a connection between the real world today and the world present in the artwork. He puts his emphasis on the intense and painful scenes of the protagonist's beating, lasting for a long time where he endures the continuance of suffering and wounding, and this immerses the viewer and himself in astonishment and shock.