‘Transparency,’ by Pooyan Aryanpour (Iran) and Sebastian Richter (Germany)

Thousands of kilometers lie between the artists Pooyan Aryanpour and Sebastian Richter, and still there can be found interesting parallels in their art work as well as in their Vita.

Pooya Aryanpour was born in 1971 in Teheran, Iran. He studied painting at the Azad University in Teheran, the same place where he nowadays works as a teacher. Sebastian Richter belongs to the same generation. He was born in 1978 in Dresden, Germany. After having completed his studies at the HKD Halle-Burg Gibichstein and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, he now works part time as a teacher in the field of painting and glass-art where he started his studies. Both artists chose to work with the element of transparency as artistic expression.

On the dark canvases of Pooya Aryanpour, delicately styled forms float in rhythmic arrangements – they could be X-ray images of blossoms, cell-structures, alphabetic characters or music notes. In fact, the artist is inspired by specific sounds – these sounds stand at the very beginning of the originating process of his artworks. At a later stage of the process his practiced hand at traditional calligraphy helps him to cover the canvases with intricate lines similar to writing in transparent tones. His artworks analyse and screen the material as to search for a higher, transcendent reality.

Pooya Aryanpour / Untitled from 'Floating Objects' series, 2009, mixed media on cardboard, 96x64 cm / Courtesy of AB Gallery

Pooya Aryanpour / Untitled from 'Floating Objects' series, 2009, acrylic on cardboard, 170x130 cm / Courtesy of AB Gallery

Sebastian Richter uses the material of glass. However, his artworks are not transparent. They are uneven, simple and crazed with cracks - sometimes they are crafted in whole black. The artist transfers this contradiction onto the content level. The works often refer to Greek mythology, to its ambivalent heroes, who incorporate ingenuity and painful faith at the same time. The material – the glass – therefore stands as a metaphor for the paradox of life. The artist plays with the subject of transparency when it comes to his paintings. The silent dignity of the big-size, monochrome surfaces, captivate the viewer and let him sink into a floating space of colours. The viewing process so becomes a unique meditative experience and the viewer gains the appearance of being able to see through the canvas and thus trough the material.

Sebastian Richter / Dream of Paris, glass, 50x180x170 cm, 2010 / Courtesy of AB Gallery

Sebastian Richter / Dream of Paris - detail, glass, 2010 / Courtesy of AB Gallery