Massoud Arabshahi (Iran, 1935-2019)
Sacred Geometry
mixed media on canvas
signed 'Massoud Arabshahi' (lower left and verso), executed in 1986
127 x 116cm (50 x 45 11/16in).
Footnotes:
Provenance:
property from a private collection, Los Angeles

'Ten Powers, and nine spheres, eight heavens made He,
And planets seven, of six sides, as we see,
Five senses, and four elements, three souls,
Two worlds, but only one, O man, like thee.'
-Omar Khayyam


Massoud Arabshahi was one of the key protagonists of the Iranian neo-traditionalist movement, and notably one of the only artists of his ilk to pursue their agenda through pure painting and not calligraphy. Fascinated by the textual, architectural and mathematical elements of traditional Persian imagery, Arabshahi's work is punctuated by motifs which carry strong metaphorical significance. All this is done with an unequivocally modern and wholly abstract aesthetic.

The severe, charcoal hue that Arabshahi employs in the present work recalls ancient Persian rock reliefs of the kind found at Persepolis, Behistun and Pasargade combined with interlaced metallic mesh forms often seen on tomb enclosures in Shi'ite shrines. The mixture of geometrical and angular shapes all contains esoteric significance for Arabshahi. An artist enraptured by the recurrence of symbols, his works are riddled with semiotic iconography: arc shapes denote the perfection of celestial geometry and abstract glyphs recall ancient Persian cuneiform, their indiscernibly a testament to the extinction of the culture that once gave them meaning.

For millennia human art has demonstrated the ability to reflect, narrate, and signify meaning through signs and symbols. Arabshahi's compositions ultimately remind us that regardless of the age we live in, or our varying modes of expression and communication, we all have the innate propensity to invest in symbols and images, elements of our collective consciousness uncapturable in words.
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