Barakat Contemporary presents Please Sit Down by Iranian-American artist Nicky Nodjoumi from Wednesday, 21st November 2018 until Sunday, 13th January 2019.
For over 40 years, Nodjoumi has built a very political and profound artistic world whose theme is the relationship between power and violence. Nodjoumi’s works are housed in major galleries around the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana, and his entire oeuvre has received renewed attention since his recent, first solo exhibition in Europe.
The keywords of his artistic realm are “ambiguity” and “drama.” Here, “ambiguity” refers not to the absence of a stance but to the possibility of observing and expanding objects with multilayered meanings. The possibility of expansion through such multilayered arrangements is applied to the development of themes linked to the artist’s identity as well. Nodjoumi has led a life that, in one sense, “drifts” between Iran, his native country, and the United States, where he has lived for nearly 40 years. Reflecting on his life of wandering in a strange land, the artist intentionally expands the scope of his pictorial narratives to universal human experiences.
Nicky Nodjoumi (b. 1942)
Brooklyn-based artist Nicky Nodjoumi was born in Kermanshah, Iran in 1942. Earning a Bachelor’s degree in art from Tehran University of Fine Arts before relocating to the United States in the late 1960s, Nodjoumi received his Master’s degree in Fine Arts from The City College of New York in 1974. Returning to Tehran to join the faculty of his alma mater, Nodjoumi joined his politically galvanized students in their criticism of the Shah’s regime, designing political posters inspired by the revolutionary spirit sweeping the country, only to be exiled once more in the aftermath of the revolution.
Nicky Nodjoumi's works are in several prominent institutional collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the British Museum in London, Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, and the National Museum of Cuba. In 2014, Nicky had a solo exhibition at the Cleveland Institute of Art titled The Accident.