ABDOLREZA AMINLARI

EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN

Exhibition dates: September 3 - October 12, 2024

Reception: Thursday September 12th, 6-8PM

SITUATIONS CHELSEA

515 W 20th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10002

Exhibition view, Abdolreza Aminlari: Everywhere in Between, SITUATIONS CHELSEA, NYC, 2024. Photo: Max C. Lee.

Abdolreza Aminlari, Untitled (24.014), 2024, Thread on handmade abaca and cotton paper, 44 x 34 inches framed.

SITUATIONS is pleased to present Everywhere in Between, Abdolreza Aminlari’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. A new suite of works on paper handmade by the artist emphasize color vibration, singular imagery, and the physicality of their materials, exploring geometric abstraction through the lens of memory and lived experience.

While in-residence at Penland School of Craft in early 2024, Aminlari handcrafted the papers that appear throughout the exhibition. Papermaking first entered his practice in 2021, through an invitation from Dieu Donné to learn and collaborate at the renowned Brooklyn-based paper studio. Embracing the material’s organic qualities, Aminlari has continued to develop his distinct approach, offsetting and manipulating layers of custom-dyed pulp. Contrasting colors emerge from the reverse to the fore, surfacing at the edges and reflecting an ambient glow. Vivid saturated hues recall spring blooms on overdrive, as lilacs, deep violets, and spearmint meet near-fluorescent yellows and pinks.

Individual icons appear in many of the works, meticulously hand-embroidered with common sewing or deadstock 24-karat gold threads. Their hard edged, geometric appearance derives from motifs Aminlari recalls from memory, referencing his childhood through the textiles and other patterned objects seen in the homes of friends and relatives. Symbols of birds, mammals, and plants shift and converge through the erosion of memory, introducing a malleability to both their form and interpretation. At large scale, the solid color of the stitched shapes screen the contrasting paper below, producing a moire-effect that shifts along with one’s perspective. Yellow ochre embroidery punctuates an undulating pink surface in the exhibition’s most sculptural example. Projecting out from the wall, the paper’s fibers seem to collect and spillover at the lower-left, revealing flecks of purple, magenta, and a golden hue matching the cotton thread .

Two handmade paper works on linen foreground the topographical qualities of the paper itself. Each bi-color composition feels molten, the equally bright tones of cotton and abaca fibers appearing to rise and recede, perturbing one’s sense of depth. The mesh of the deckle box imprints a subtle grid within the paper’s fibers, a system of order overlaying an invented landscape.

The exhibitions’ title speaks to an interstitial space, as in the tiny gap between each stitch, as well as a state of in-betweenness, a term he often uses when referring to his shape-shifting iconography. Interpreted through a diasporic experience, this sentiment echoes a sense of feeling between cultures, countries, generations over time.

ABDOLREZA AMINLARI (b.1979, Tehran, Iran) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Selected solo exhibitions include SITUATIONS (New York, NY), Andrew Rafacz Gallery (Chicago, IL), O Gallery (Tehran, Iran), Longhouse Projects (New York, NY), and Taymour Grahne Gallery (New York, NY). Recent group exhibitions include 839 Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), Club Rhubarb, (New York, NY), Van Doren Waxter (New York, NY), Hunterdon Art Museum (Clinton, NJ), Tyler Parks Presents (Los Angeles, CA), Kristen Lorello Gallery (New York, NY), Foley Gallery (New York, NY), and Abrons Art Center (New York, NY). Aminlari's work has received reviews in The Wall Street Journal, ARTnews, BBC Persian, Architectural Digest, and Art Asia Pacific. He created an artist project with Dieu Donné, one of the foremost cultural institutions focused on advancing the art of bespoke papermaking, and was invited as Artist in Residence at West Elm with a concentration on ceramics. Aminlari completed the AICAD/New York Studio Residency Program in 2001 and received his B.F.A. from the College for Creative Studies, Detroit, in 2002. His work is included in numerous private and public collections, including the collection of the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, (Chicago, IL).

SITUATIONS CHELSEA is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, 11AM to 6PM. For press inquiries, please contact Renee Delosh at renee@situations.us. To request a sales preview, or for general questions, please contact info@situations.us. Further information can be found online at www.situations.us