O Gallery for contemporary Iranian art: Donya Aalipour shows 'Faces'

'Faces' is the Tehran-born, Vienna-based artist's first solo exhibition, following a series of local and international contemporary Iranian artists represented by Tehran's women-owned O Gallery.

O Gallery - Donya Aalipour - Deep Conversation, Oil on paper, 100x70cm, 2022

In which world do we live? What determines our reality, what our fears and worries? Yet how free are we? An undefined mass of judges seems to accompany us, to question our actions. But who are these agents of criticism, of judgement? They remain identityless and yet discerning. They follow us at every turn and their presence is ubiquitous. The recurring tangled colour fields of yellow, orange, blue, green and violet become the embodiment of their figure and the manifestation space of their facial expressions. This audience is not solely an observer, but limits the space of freedom. Whether these critics represent an external mass formed by society, or whether they have manifested themselves in our minds, become our inner critic, which we constantly reproduce ourselves and keep alive, remains open.

Donya Aalipour (*1995 Tehran) is a curious and inquisitive artist whose practice is based on an understanding of the social role of art and the artist, combined with narratives drawn from both reality and fiction, exploring the relationship between figure and anecdote in modern life and the individual's relationship with the world around them.

In her work, Aalipour depicts human relationships, peace and anxiety, happiness and misery, attachment and non-attachment. Her works are a series of coherent narratives in which the themes and elements of one work lead to the creation of the next.

Donya Aalipour is currently enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She is a student of Daniel Richter. She is represented by Orkideh Daroodi of O Gallery.

O Gallery is located in the centre of Tehran, in a three-story building from the 1960s. Since 2014, under the direction of Orkideh Daroodi, it has become an incubator for contemporary Iranian artists - both local and living and working around the world. O Gallery has supported the careers of its artists by actively collaborating with major museums for exhibitions and collections, including Shideh Tami's acquisition by the British Museum, Zahra Imani's acquisition by the Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art Brisbane, Ali Nassir's planned solo exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, and Ali Meer Azimi's representation at the Iran Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

'Faces' at O Gallery, 25 August - 11 September 2023.

More about Donya Aalipour at O Gallery.