Untitled 2005

Editor: We’re looking at an untitled piece by Mostafa Dashti, created in 2005. It looks like a mixed-media work with prominent use of acrylic paint. I’m immediately struck by the layered texture – it feels almost sculptural. What stands out to you about this piece? Curator: The emphasis for me falls on the materiality itself. Notice the "matter painting" aspect— the built-up layers and textural variations achieved through acrylic and mixed media. How does the artist’s process, the physical act of applying these materials, reflect a certain engagement with the world around him, his own lived experience? Editor: That's interesting. So, beyond just the aesthetic qualities, you’re thinking about the labour involved, and how that might inform the work's meaning? Curator: Precisely. The gesture is only one component of an entire cultural and material network that brings an art piece into being. Dashti wasn't working in a vacuum; acrylic paints themselves are products with a specific history and context. They came about at a certain time, through industry. What kind of narrative do you think this can suggest? Editor: I hadn't considered that! The fact that he chose acrylic, a relatively modern material, speaks to something. Perhaps a desire to engage with contemporary issues or techniques, instead of clinging to traditional methods. Curator: Exactly. And within the history of art-making, what has changed? What are the modern industrial applications? Now, given the intense, expressive nature of this abstract expressionism and this kind of materiality, is there any possibility that the making of this work suggests any violence that society creates? Editor: It definitely adds another layer. Thanks, I'm definitely seeing more in it now than I did initially. Curator: Yes, thinking about the material and social dimensions really opens it up, doesn't it?