Alien

It is difficult, in the work of Mohammadreza Firooznia, to choose between form and subject as the primary element of emphasis. His portraits, in particular, revolve around the image of the mother. His formal endeavor to record an impartial view of the parent gestures toward a desire to detach from resemblance itself. It is as if he positions himself at a distance from the subject, seeking to experience and document separation from a being with whom he shares an ancient bond. After all, is it not in childhood that this distance first defines our sense of self and the boundaries of the other?

The “other” in Firooznia’s work is at once an object of reverence and a source of fear and authority،a familiar presence that remains, nevertheless, a stranger.

Yet one should not overlook the formal qualities of Firooznia’s drawings. His mastery of draftsmanship is striking, for him, drawing is not merely the depiction of form but the revelation of a way of seeing.

"jamal arabzadeh"