TEHRAN – A solo exhibition of ink and gouache drawings of walls by Javad Modaresi is underway at 009821 Projects, an art venue in Tehran.

Titled “A Way Into That Wall,” the exhibition has been programmed in collaboration with Assar Art Gallery, Galleryinfo reported.

The current show is the 12th in a series of exhibitions presented by Assar Art Gallery in close collaboration with other galleries.

“A Way into That Wall” marks Javad Modaresi’s fifth solo exhibition with Assar Gallery, presenting 14 drawings executed in ink and gouache.

The exhibition continues a trajectory developed across his recent shows, in which architectural elements are gradually reduced and rearticulated through a process-based approach. While earlier works engaged with fragmented urban spaces and façades, the current exhibition isolates the wall as its sole subject.

Stripped of context and surrounding space, the wall appears as a dense, frontal structure of repetitive black brick units. Presented from a low vantage point, it confronts the viewer as a closed surface, suggesting constraint, confinement, and obstruction rather than control or overview.

The title emerges from Modaresi’s engagement with “The Letters” of Vincent van Gogh—particularly the metaphor of standing behind a wall and scraping at it to find a way inside—and resonates with the persistence and continuity of this working process.

The formation of this body of work took shape through Modaresi’s experimental practice with paper, ink, and gouache.

During “Paradox IV” (presented by Assar Art Gallery in collaboration with O Gallery in 2023), fatigue from working with oil paint on large canvases led the artist toward smaller-scale works on paper and cardboard, allowing for a more immediate sensory and rhythmic transmission of ideas with minimal mediation.

The development of this series can also be seen as a continuation of the smaller drawings shown in “Black Forest I” (Azad Art Gallery, 2015).

In “A Way into That Wall”, while the technique of the works aligns with the tradition of black-and-white drawing, the choice of black carries both formal and conceptual significance. On the one hand, Modaresi uses black with great precision and sensitivity, emphasizing surface and form and allowing subtle visual nuances to emerge on the paper’s smooth, absorbent surface. On the other hand, he establishes a balance between order and emotion, drawing on Nietzsche’s Apollonian and Dionysian concepts to create geometric compositions devoid of overt gestural expression.

Within his repetitive, meditative process, each element and surface is executed with meticulous care, yet these restrained surfaces continue to address and evoke emotion. The works exist on the edge—between geometry and expression, restraint and intensity, suffocation and visual beauty—resisting classification.

Influenced by Iranian painting traditions, the series favors meticulous, laborious execution over minimal suggestion, reflecting a personal engagement with process, time, and the act of making.

Born in Mashhad, Javad Modaresi, 47, is a painter based in Tehran, whose practice spans more than 20 years. He holds an M.A. in Painting, and his work has been presented in fifteen solo exhibitions and many group shows in Iran and abroad.

Launched on January 2, “A Way Into That Wall” will run until January 20 at 009821 Projects, located at No. 25, 18th Alley, North Kheradmand St., Karimkhan Zand St.

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