Avish Khebrehzadeh acknowledges an abiding sense of dislocation in her life and work, and it resigned to never feeling at home anywhere. Born in Iran, she has also lived and in Madagascar, UK, Italy and the United States. This psychological and geographical disquiet has fuelled her work and led to the creation of a body poignant and potent images that render individuals and small groups isolated in indeterminate settings.
Khebrehzadeh’s work extends to drawing, paintings and animation and her method is poetic rather than expository. Her chosen media, frequently olive oil and resin on paper, is delicate, heightening the fragility of her characters. Recently, she has turned to oil and gesso on panel, painting blue-white figures and scenes on inky black backgrounds.
Her spare visual vocabulary and nearly monochromatic palette are the keys to making her paintings accessible, while retaining a sense of mystery. As the artist says: “Mystery is good… I don’t want things definable.”
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