2013 Untitled Painting
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h4/h4_2013.1092.jpg
Nasrollah Afjei is an Iranian artist. In this painting, Nasrollah reportedly repeated the word, “eshq” over and over. “Eshq” means love in the Persian language. The artist is acknowledged for his untitled painting in 2013 using the word for love in Persia for the balancing linguistic meaning with the pure abstraction to bring a new depth to the lineage. The artist left the painting untitled; this tells me more about how the artist feels about the word or the idea of love.
I was initially attracted to this painting because of its swirly design. The swirls gave me a feeling of a story without an ending. I thought there could be a story related to eternity. I later read that the artist had love on his mind. There is a kind of romantic insanity with each feverish stroke of the artist’s brush. I’m feeling the slight variations in the natural colors: browns, black, rustic browns, and white speak of one who had fallen in love only to conclude they placed a common person on a heavenly pedestal.
There is a force behind each stroke streaming from an unending proximal supply of power creating open and closed lines each giving its own explanation. This brings to mind an unpredictable large body of water waiting to unleash its offspring to create a beauty of nature. The lines appear open, and then closed racing upward in the space creating volume in the mind of the admirer. Light is constantly revealing the many variations of the same story. There is a shadow motivating the pattern to expel its secrets over and over again.
Many hues birthed from a few have been strengthened from the proximal supply of power, the artist’s soul. The lines are altered slightly but also drastically to give a smooth but also rough texture.
Repeating the same stroke slightly different in hopes of receiving the desired outcome, love reciprocated. The strokes starting low on the space of the painting, only to end almost at the top of the painting suggests optimism. The multiple lines with impromptu patterns scream insecurity.
