New York Premiere of Sadegh Tirafkan's Temptation

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.