Mana Contemporary, Jersey City

Magic of Light, emphasizes the subtle ways in which motion, texture, and light are used in all the works to further convey inherent emotions of loss, fear and nostalgia. Magic of Light includes three collaborative video-painting series by Shoja Azari and Shahram Karimi, as well as a video installation by Azari.Shoja Azari and Shahram Karimi’s groundbreaking four piece series, Silence, consists of carefully filmed abstract images of natural landscapes projected onto canvases that have been painted in a precise, hyper‐ realistic manner, each depicting one season of the year. Imbued with an ethereal elegance, these works encompass the nostalgic emotions of the passing of time through the lenses of Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer.The perfectly aligned installation connects the two mediums of painting and video to produce subtle movements and bring to life the flat surface, thereby suggesting an element of real time
onto an otherwise frozen moment.Magic of Light will feature the latest collaboration between Shoja Azari and Shahram Karimi. Each piece from this 4-panel video-painting series, entitled Forsaken, depicts metanarratives based on a story of a family in
the midst of deterioration. The perspectives of a father who has abandoned his home, a heartbroken wife attempting to decipher her state of being, and a neglected child fleeing the sight of his broken family, all develop throughout the series. A sense of irrevocable damage lies heavily across the body of work, as the final panel depicts the child solemnly walking down a road towards his uncertain destiny.On view is also Azari’s There Are No Non Believers in Hell, a video installation informed by the timelessness of Renaissance art seen through the lens of contemporary existential anxiety. The video work, projected on two sides of cross hanging from the ceiling, creates a powerful yet disturbing experience: famous old Master paintings including Caravaggio’s The Incredulity of Saint Thomas and Rembrandt’s Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac burn in front of the viewers eyes. As the paintings melt away into darkness, the voices of evangelical radicals preaching about hell as a reality on earth are heard throughout the room instilling a troubling sense of religious fervor.Magic of Light is presented by Mana Contemporary, in collaboration with Leila Heller Gallery
Artists:
Shoja Azari Shahram Karimi

Open:Sunday, 29 September 2013
Close:Saturday, 28 December 2013
Address: 888 Newark Avenue Jersey City, NJ 07306
Web:Mana Contemporary
Photo credits:Shoja Azari, Shahram Karimi, High Noon, courtesy of Mana Contemporary