Nader Ahriman

In the light of renewed interest in the medium of painting at present, the works by Nader Ahriman deserve special attention. For many years the focus of the Berlin-based artist has been on complex, even excessive, content orientation. Ahriman’s Iranian descent (born in Shiraz, 1964) and his resulting strong interest in a critically reflected exploration of ideological systems have also influenced his relation to painting. He developed a dense, idiosyncratic vocabulary of formal aesthetics which includes a great number of philosophical, literary and art historic references, especially to the 19th and 20th centuries. Yet Ahriman succeeds in breaking the immediate impression of a highly conceptual, model-like quality in his pictures; solutions of content always come with painterly solutions. This first extensive monograph features works from 1994 to today and concentrates on showing the metaphorical and, at the same time, painterly complexity of Nader Ahriman’s artistic vocabulary. His works are accompanied by essays by Christian Haye, Paola Morsiani and Dorothea Strauss. Exhibition Schedule: Kunstverein Freiburg April 11 - June 1, 2003