Nicky Nodjoumi: Please Sit Down

Barakat Contemporary is pleased to host the exhibition Please Sit Down by Iranian-American artist Nicky Nodjoumi from 21st November 2018 to 13th January 2019.

For over 40 years, Nodjoumi has built a very political and profound artistic world whose theme is the relationship between power and violence. Nodjoumi’s works are housed in major galleries around the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana, and his entire oeuvre has received renewed attention since his recent, first solo exhibition in Europe.

The keywords of his artistic realm are “ambiguity” and “drama.” Here, “ambiguity” refers not to the absence of a stance but to the possibility of observing and expanding objects with multilayered meanings. The possibility of expansion through such multilayered arrangements is applied to the development of themes linked to the artist’s identity as well. Nodjoumi has led a life that, in one sense, “drifts” between Iran, his native country, and the United States, where he has lived for nearly 40 years. Reflecting on his life of wandering in a strange land, the artist intentionally expands the scope of his pictorial narratives to universal human experiences.