Space 1970

Iran Darroudi made "Space," a 140 x 140 cm painting, with strokes of ochre, muted blues, and a fiery red that leaps out at you. I can imagine Darroudi in her studio, building up layers, maybe wiping them away, letting the painting emerge through experimentation. There's this tension between control and chance that feels very alive. The paint isn't applied to give you all the information at once. You have to look a bit, allow yourself to get lost in it. It invites a kind of slow looking. That central red form—it's almost like a burning bush or maybe the roots of a tree exposed. I wonder, was she thinking about growth, destruction, the cycles of nature? There's a dance between the grounded and the ethereal here, which reminds me of the landscapes of Turner or the colour fields of Rothko, even though Darroudi has her own distinct voice. Painting is a conversation across time, and each artist adds something new to the dialogue.