Farhad Moshiri (b. 1963)

"I've found a cornucopia of materials that have become my palette", he said. "They are my paint. They're even more valid than paint" (F. Moshiri, quoted in N. Azimi, Fluffy Farhad, reproduced at www.bidoun.org).

Huge Persian script spread across the canvas, bleeding to the far edges and forming complex irregular patterns. They reflect his fascination with the use of Arabic Abjad, a symbolic language of numbers and signs which contain magical meaning. Manuscripts and talismanic garments from Iran and the Ottoman lands were covered with Abjad, confering blessings and protection to the wearer. Moshiri's canvases resemble tiny sections of these, magnified to great size as if viewed through a microscope. The same flaked paint technique is used as in his Jars series, conferring on to these works an sense of antiquity at odds with the strong pop feel conferred by the graphic execution of the script.