Discover the unpublished works of the young Iranian artist Zahra Zeinali in her exhibition "Au pays des merveilles" (In Wonderland) at the Claire Corcia Gallery through a set of intense and dreamy acrylic paintings on canvas and charcoal drawings.
"Over time, Zahra Zeinali elaborates her universe, which evolves slowly according to the unconscious, a vast, agitated, underground life that a hyper-sensitive artist such as Zahra does not try to control. Autobiographical elements emerge through the dreamlike quality of her paintings. Naturally gifted for drawing, after nine years spent in France, her work speaks to us with a more distanced tone of her experience as an Iranian emigrant, fleeing the restrictions of her country, in the hope of tasting French freedom.
Innocence in the face of a hostile environment, innocence symbolised by dolls with candid eyes, but mistreated and broken, is apparently the major theme of her paintings, which, by gradual shifts, moves towards a less sombre, more playful atmosphere, close to Alice in Wonderland, the legendary heroine confronted with strangeness and the angel of the bizarre. Zahra follows in her footsteps, in a world in perpetual transformation. Masks, by nature, conceal cruel truths, slightly disturbing clowns approach everyday life through the back door, little girls whisper secrets in dark corners. As in Alice's book, wolves, foxes, exotic birds and all sorts of animals appear, adding a singular note to the enigma of existence.
Passionate about the art of photography, which she studied in Paris, Zahra sometimes takes photos in preparation for the painting in progress. Hence the clever disorder of the bold, unusual and very free layouts of her compositions. It is not without profound reasons that the painter feels an affinity with the Portuguese artist Paula Rego, her bitterness, her own universe of broken dolls, her admirable neo-classical technique which does not refrain from sneering and sarcasm.
Both express their feelings, sometimes painful, sometimes humorous, but served by the beauty of the drawing and the nobility of the material.
Xavier BUREAU, November 2022
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