Press Release: New York, NY June 2016

Blackout Dreams
June 25-26, 2016

Charles Gallery

An intimate exploration of memories, Blackout Dreams invites us to see the mind as a fragile container that is mysterious, magical and malleability.  As faces, spaces, and events distort and reshape, our interpretation of what the past entailed or meant continues to evolve.  

To depict this phenomenon, Kasra uses patterns, transparent layers and an uncommon mono-printing technique. This process allows the photographic reality to morph into the subjective, surreal imprints lingering in the mind. 

An imperfect depiction tempts the observer to fill in the blanks with their own imagination and emotional states. While subjects retain their most distinctive features, the rest becomes an abstract interpretation of the past reality. Memories become less photographic and more abstract and accentuated as they fall further into our past.

The exhibition consists of a series of oil paintings and photo collages that evoke the nature of recollection and the re-creation of faded memories associated with the passage of time and age.

Inspired by the works of figurative expressionists like Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, in his paintings Kasra uses bold textures and patterns to create intimate and whimsical instances.

“Memory is never a precise duplicate of the original… it is a constant act of re-creation”

Rosalind D. Cartwright

In 2011, Kasra made his American debut at MIT with his solo exhibition Iran: The Unguarded Moments.  While many exhibitions on Iran tend to attract attention by focusing on the political tensions of present day, his exhibition focused on the daily implications of cultural and habitual behaviors. 

Throughout his exhibition at MIT, Kasra confronted viewers with colorful and harmonious images displaying “the unguarded moment”, the essential sense of being, the experience of contentment.

In contrast to the contentment he expressed in his first exhibition, Blackout Dreams exposes the uncertainty of life, of memories, and the love affair that drove him to move to America.