Saadabad 2018

Editor: We're looking at "Saadabad," an oil painting by Reza Rahimi Lasko from 2018. The winter scene, a path through the trees, feels peaceful and a little melancholic. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Well, at first glance, it's easy to get lost in the realistic rendering of the snow and trees. But I think it's important to consider the title. "Saadabad" refers to the Saadabad Complex in Tehran, a site historically associated with royalty and power. Does the artist intend for this painting to stand as a neutral, or purely aesthetic representation of nature, or is this more charged and symbolic? Editor: That’s interesting. I hadn't thought about the title beyond its literal location. So, is the artist perhaps inviting us to consider class and environmental factors? Curator: Precisely. Whose history is prioritized? Who gets access to these spaces and what meanings do those spaces come to hold over time? Also, consider the environmental implications; it is after all, a landscape, though perhaps devoid of the human interactions which are implied. What stories can we tell about how the land and class interrelate? What perspectives are not immediately visible here? Editor: It’s less of a straightforward landscape and more of a meditation on history, access, and maybe even the environment. Curator: Exactly. Realism, in this context, becomes a vehicle for exploring complex social and political questions, urging us to critically examine our relationship with both history and the environment. This picture asks about how landscape has always figured as an element of political agency. Editor: I definitely see that now. I was focused on the surface beauty, but it's clearly layered with deeper meaning. Thanks for shedding light on that! Curator: My pleasure! It’s in the asking that these stories come out of the silence of art.