New York Premiere of Sadegh Tirafkan's Temptation
3/13/06
Sadegh Tirafkan will present his latest body of work - Temptation - at
his third New York exhibition at the Massoud Nader Gallery 420 East 58th Street,
New York from March 10th through March 23rd 2006, 11AM to
5PM.

Tirafkan‚s photographs explore the power,
value, and meaning of symbols in both the individual and society in Persian and
Western culture. Prominent throughout this series is Tirafkan‚s use of the
pomegranate, one of the most prolific archetypical symbols with interpretations
ranging from life and immortality to love and passion.
Temptation, completed in Iran in March 2005, takes some of its context
from High Renaissance art, particularly The Last Supper by Leonardo da
Vinci. Tirafkan transcends time and geography to effortlessly fuse this classic
construction from sixteen century Italian art with the richness of culture and
history from Iran.
Through a privileged glimpse into the private and inner world of his
characters we can see and experience that the complexity of relationships and
the expression or repression of deeper emotions also transcends the boundaries
of time, geography and culture.
Tirafkan is a persevering artist who navigates through time and culture
in search of his place and identity as an Iranian man in the contemporary world.
The medium of photography is his main platform to construct powerful visual
plays using a combination of elements that he inspirits with
symbolism.
The significance of symbolism throughout
Tirafkan‚s body of work comes from his Persian root in which direct dialogue is
rarely used, but frequently replaced by symbolic
languages.
Following the New York premiere of
Temptation, Tirafkan will present a new exhibition - Iranian Man - as part of
the 19th Annual Images Festival at Aspace Gallery in Toronto, Canada from March
31- April 22, 2006.
Sadegh Tirafkan was born in Iraq to Iranian parents and shortly
after moved to Iran where he raised and began working as an artist.
Tirafkan‚s work which spans photography, video and collage, is mainly
focused on Iranian culture, identity and gender. Tirafkan has exhibited
widely in Iran at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran; in Europe including
the VU Gallery in Paris; and in the United States including the Lehmann Maupin
Gallery in New York. He currently divides his time between Toronto, Canada and
Tehran.
To view Tirafkan's body of
work, please visit www.tirafkan.com. For more information and
to RSVP, please contact Lester Davis at 212.253.2112 or Ldavis@BAAdvantage.com.