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THE CORRUPT MINORITY


STEVEN ZEVITAS GALLERY BOSTON, MA

Boston – Steven Zevitas Gallery is pleased to present The Corrupt Minority, an exhibition of recent work by Iranian-American and San Francisco-based artist Taravat Talepasand. The exhibition will be on view from Thursday, April 28 through Saturday, May 28, 2011, with an opening reception on Friday, May 6.

The Corrupt Minority features a new body of work in which Talepasand continues to explore and reconcile her multi-cultural heritage. On view are egg tempera on panel paintings, graphite works on paper and sculpture. Drawing from a variety of visual sources that include old master paintings, personal photographs, and images appropriated from the internet, Talepasand’s work fuses imagery and themes from the East and West. By doing so, she simultaneously questions and embraces accepted hierarchies and traditions in both art and society.

Talepasand’s own image often appears in her work. In the painting “Self-Portrait: Sanctioned,” which is executed in the highly challenging and historically rich medium of egg tempera, she sets herself in a traditional three-quarter pose and intensely gazes out at the viewer. Yet the painting is anything but a traditional portrait. As in much of her work, Talepasand uses historical tropes to set expectations, and then goes about actively subverting them. In “Self-Portrait: Sanc- tioned,” she presents herself as both subject and object, and by extension suggests that nationality itself has become an object.

“I am very interested in giving expression to Iranian modernity and experiences –how we, as Iranians whether living abroad or under the flag of the Republic can claim our modern experiential existence while still owning our traditions,” Talepasand explains. “If the work is about anything, it’s about lived experience and how to claim that experience.”

Talepasand earned her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2006. Her work was included in the 2010 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art. Recent solo exhibitions include shows at Marx & Zavattero and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, both in San Francisco. This is Talepasand’s first one- woman exhibition at Steven Zevitas Gallery.

The artist will be present for an opening reception Friday, May 6th from 5:30 – 8:00 PM. For additional information, please contact Steven Zevitas at 617.778.5265 (ext. 22). Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11AM – 5 PM. 

Earlier Event: October 23
2010 CALIFORNIA BIENNIAL
Later Event: May 2
PATHÉTIQUE