Ali Banisadr: "In Medias Res"

I know I am in the zone of painting when time disappears and I am not aware of time or space any longer.

- Ali Banisadr

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac is delighted to present the third solo exhibition of artist Ali Banisadr in its Marais gallery space, featuring nine paintings as well as works on paper.

In Medias Res delves into the heart of the battle: the viewer experiences landscapes in which imagination is a transformation, in which violence illustrates only the sublime. As Banisadr explains, “In Medias Res is a metaphor for the way my paintings are made, the way the story begins with an explosion, in the middle of action and then it slowly unfolds and unveils its content.”

In motion and evolving throughout the process of creation, Ali Banisadr’s work is characterized by an instability that fascinates the viewer and showcases the very essence of imagination. Neither completely abstract nor completely figurative, the scenes that Ali Banisadr paints fit within the art history narrative, from Hieronymous Bosch to Francis Bacon, bearing this ability to transport us into realms where beauty borders on horror, order on disorder, and where the depths of the sea merge with the farthest reaches of outer space.

The origin of chaos is perhaps what ultimately enables us to see the artist, like an imperfect symphony: the one who orchestrates forms and colors, slow and intense movements, to reach a disconcerting harmony that freezes within time, the creative explosion that unfurls under our gaze.

Nonetheless, alongside his explosions—and in contrast to his previous work—the artist this time integrates lines that bring structure to his pieces. These lines are, for Ali Banisadr, the very representation of language, of words and of their structure, which conflict with the language of painting.

Accompanied by charcoal drawings, the paintings dialogue with these sketches and particularize the abstract characters that populate Ali Banisadr’s paintings, thus enhancing and completing his core work.

Born in Tehran in 1976, Ali Banisadr lives and works in New York. 

His works are part of the collections of numerous institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the British Museum in London, and the François Pinault Foundation in Venice. 

A catalogue will be published to accompany the exhibition featuring an essay by Philippe Dagen, an art critic and professor at the Sorbonne.