The art, whether in physical or digital form, evokes impossible topographies at both ends of the scalar spectrum: the microscopic or cosmological. The lack of true materiality allows the spectator to read the works as simultaneously in a state of both "being" and "non-being", registering an intensely physical presence. The works achieve this fleeting sense of intangibility by being only quasi-legible. For example, Houshiary uses pencil on a black or white aquacryl ground to inscribe layers of text derived from two words — one an affirmation, the other a denial — crushed upon one another and layered with bursts of pigment.
The wall-based work Lacuna, made by interweaving ribbons of lacquer coloured steel, exceeds the limits of its materiality by replicating itself in shadows: multiple spiraling forms that are both turbulent and tranquil. The sculpture tower White Shadow is formed from rotating columns of hollow painted aluminium bricks, and each brick acts as both an essential structural building block and a moment of pause in the composition. As the viewer moves around the sculpture, architectural form turns into void and back into architectural form.
Shirazeh Houshiary
Lisson Gallery
Via Zenale 3, Milan
