Behrang Karimi
Bilder sprechen

Provinz Showroom
Oct 27 – Dec 4, 2022

In his exhibition at Provinz, Behrang Karimi presents a series of works on paper in various formats and one painting. Karimi uses a range of methods, including monotypes, wood- and linocuts and gouache; combined, they create a lively dialogue between the artist and his work. Landscapes and views are often merely hinted at – humans are the true heart of Karimi’s work, appearing as portraits, in classic poses, as lying and seated nudes, alone and in groups. The room around them is diffuse, sometimes suggested by a doorway flooded with light, other times by another person appearing at the edge of the picture. Two people face one another, rigid as statues, separated by a light expanse of colour, of water? His figures seem delicate and brittle, as does the scenery they move within. They all portray small episodes within a unique moment – like the worm crawling towards the apple – that disappears almost before we have fully grasped its significance.

The woodcut series entitled “On Earth as it is in Heaven” (“Wie im Himmel so auf Erden”) shows mathematician Omar Khayyam (1048-1131), who reformed the ancient Persian calendar by aligning it with the passage of the sun, as he studies the stars. Held in pinks and reds, each background has been painted individually. This choice of motifs reflects Behrang Karimi’s marked interest in mystical and philosophical texts, which include the medieval scripts of Benedictine healer and botanist Hildegard of Bingen as well as texts from the early Age of Enlightenment by friends and essayists Michel de Montaigne and Etienne de la Boétie. Texts and images alike are characterised by their hybrid nature, their fluid transition between observation and dream, premonition and knowing, the visible and the invisible, power and powerlessness.

Life as a father means Karimi only paints by night, under artificial light; his subdued colour palette reflects the twilight atmosphere. He often repeats the same motif again and again, before deciding, une image juste ou juste une image? (“A just image or just an image?”, Jean Luc Godard.)

The viewer feels much the same when observing Karimi’s works with their broad strokes in blacks and brilliant colours, such as the picture of a hand holding a match with a bright, blazing flame. These are clear, simple statements which still ask the same, ambiguous question. One is tempted to answer by quoting another Rhinelander, artist and philosopher Bernhard Blume: “Pure reason is unbearable as pure reason.” (“Die reine Verunft ist als reine Vernunft ungeniessbar.”)

Behrang Karimi (born in Shiraz, Iran, in 1980, lives in Cologne) studied under Peter Doig at the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts (“Kunstakademie Düsseldorf”) from 2008-2015. His works have been exhibited internationally, e.g. 2022 bacchus madness walking experiences, Ermes, Ermes, Rome / Half Drunk and Close to Rope, Moon Grove, Rusholme, Manchester / The Age, Shahin Zarinbal, Berlin / Sweet Days of Discipline , Hannah Hoffman, Los Angeles // 2021 coming for your job and wifes, Tramps, London / SPIT, Braunsfelder, Cologne / Von der schenkenden Tugend, Zarinbal Khoshbakht, Köln /Fifteen Painters, Andrew Kreps, New York // 2020 Zarinbal Khoshbakht, Köln / Any Day Now, Sprüth Magers, London (online) / Akademie Galerie, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf / Space is the Place, Paul Wiersbinski, Hybrid Installation, Berlin / Everything is Personal, Tramps, New York // 2018 Here,Here..., curated by Tenzing Barshee, Braunsfelder Family Collection, Cologne / Salon des Amateurs, Tramps, London and many more.