Based on the Hexagon: The Recent Drawings of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian

Haines Gallery is pleased to present Based on the Hexagon: The Recent Drawings of Monir Farmanfarmaian, the artist’s second solo exhibition on the West Coast. The show is being held concurrently with Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian’s critically acclaimed retrospective exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (through June 3), which premiered at the Fundação de Serralves–Museu de Arte Contemporânea in Porto, Portugal before traveling to New York. 

Focusing on Farmanfarmaian’s extraordinary works on paper—many of which use the hexagon as an essential building block—Based on the Hexagon reveals the artist’s bold innovations in this medium, which constitutes a significant contribution to her oeuvre. With their jewel-like surfaces and intricate, interlocking forms, Farmanfarmaian’s works on paper combine the sacred geometry of her native Iranian culture with the modernist abstraction of the 20th century. The result is a singular aesthetic fusion of Persian pictorial language and pristine geometry unlike any other. Now in her 90s, Farmanfarmaian continues to create works of dazzling intensity. 

“For me,” Farmanfarmaian has said, “everything starts with the hexagon.” In the Sufi traditions inflecting Persian art and architecture, the hexagon has many meanings. Its six sides can be representative of the directions: forward, backward, right, left, up and down; as well as the six virtues: generosity, self-discipline, patience, determination, insight and compassion. The hexagon is often the basis for both the floral and geometric patterning in media that range from religious mosaics to woven textiles. The multifaceted nature of the hexagon’s symbolism is reflected in the works presented here, produced between 2008 and 2015, which incorporate ink, glitter, colored pencil, carefully cut mirrors, and reverse-glass painting to create kaleidoscopic compositions. Interlocking and concentric circles also figure prominently in some of these pieces, returning us to the foundation of Monir’s earliest abstract sculptures from the mid-1970s. At once meditative and dynamic, expressive and analytic, her latest drawings reveal Farmanfarmaian to be at the peak of her career. As the artist Shirin Neshat has observed, “Monir’s enduring appeal stems from her ability to navigate and find a balance between traditionalism and the avant-garde, past and present, the rooted and the nomadic. Her art, wisdom, strength, humility, and vigorous energy have earned her a legacy that will continue to prevail over time.” The curator Hans Ulrich Obrist has called Farmanfarmaian, “A role model for the artist of the twenty-first century.”