Portrait of Firoozeh 1987

Aydin Aghdashloo painted this portrait of Firoozeh on an unknown date with unknown materials, and the way he builds up these hazy layers feels very intuitive to me. It's like Aghdashloo is feeling his way through the image, one brushstroke at a time. There's a delicate balance in the work between the figure and the ground. The background is a mix of browns and greys, creating a kind of atmospheric haze, and then Firoozeh emerges out of it. Notice the way Aghdashloo handles the hair, with all those wispy strands, it gives the portrait a sense of movement. Then there is the light, airy fabric of her shirt, this is contrasted by the weight of the gold pendant she wears. I see a sense of stillness, too. This reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter's blurred portraits, but with a warmer, more personal touch. It's about the ambiguity of seeing, the way a portrait can be both present and elusive at the same time.