Parvin Amirgholi | Beliefs

About

On my 50th birthday, I decided to paint besides my  professional work; therefore l started painting with Mr. Javadipour. After a short while, I quit painting due to some reasons... One night I remembered my grandma who always had a piece of metal with a strange pattern imprinted on it, which she used to keep on the corner of her shelf. Once I asked her “What is this metal thing with that pattern?” She said: “It is the spell of passion and love. Whenever my man comes (meaning my grandpa), I put this in water and then give the water to him to drink”. The interesting thing was that whenever my grandpa drank the water, he stayed for a few days and then left and disappeared for months! This pattern became the subject of my paintings. Later on I found other patterns as well and started painting again.

The patterns were amazing to me. For a long time, I was obsessed with the thought of the amount of effort boys and girls put into holding onto each other, and wives into keeping their husbands. I started my work using brushes but then realized that I could not !nd the feeling I was looking for in them, therefore I switched to pallet knife. When I put the pieces of colors together, I had the feeling of a passionate connection and unconsciously repeated the words of the spell on behalf of those who believed it. I had a solo exhibition in Golestan Gallery titled “The Spells” in May 2009 and a group exhibition in Day Gallery the November of the same year. This year, I have portrayed those ancient beliefs and will present them in Etemad gallery, in November 2014.

- Parvin Amirgholi
Born in 1948