Untitled 2006

Curator: Today, we’re looking at an "Untitled" artwork by Mostafa Dashti, created in 2006 using acrylic paint. Editor: It immediately evokes a sense of tranquility, a kind of suspended animation, wouldn’t you say? The gradation of blues melting into greys and whites is almost ethereal. Curator: Indeed. Dashti’s work very consciously aligns with the Color Field movement, extending abstraction through almost meditative expanses of pure color. This aesthetic approach certainly carries particular connotations tied to the socio-political position of Iran within global culture in the early 21st century, with cultural identity at risk of disappearing. Editor: So, you see this vastness of color as reflective of that fear of erasure? Curator: Precisely. Look at how the washes of color seem to almost dissolve into each other. The work uses abstraction to suggest the loss of tangible cultural reference points under forces like globalization. Think about what the abstraction meant in Iranian art at that point in time; the suppression of figuration created a different relationship between state power and creative production. Editor: It’s fascinating how that historical context casts a completely new light on what, at first glance, feels purely aesthetic. I see your point. What felt airy and peaceful now also holds a sense of unease, of something being diluted, drifting away. And of course, it's impossible to discuss colour field without evoking questions of power, as critics have shown through different receptions, from whitewashing to the sublime. Curator: Exactly. Considering the museum, galleries and markets within the reception is important. Editor: I find myself pondering the role of abstract art within such a specific historical narrative; it's certainly not the universal language some initially proposed, is it? Curator: Definitely. In light of our discussion, hopefully our listeners will consider abstract art in an intersectional way, through specific lenses.