Reza Derakshani (Iranian, B. 1952)

'This present lot, titled Silent Jingle Bells is from the Mirror Of Time series, a series with mostly round canvases and distorted images in circular motion which had almost never been done before in Derakshani's body of work. The images are taken from historic and archived pictures but produced in a consciously contemporary style. This piece has a reference to the a dance scene from the Safavid period of Iran.

It is heavily textured with layers of gold and oil paint with particular style which, along with the twisted perspective, brings the traditional image into the contemporary look and feel.
This work is unique from the series and was never exhibited before. The combination of gold and turquoise gives a very majestic and pleasant Persian feeling, a strong reminder of the beauty between male and female in a dance scene which has almost disappeared in today's Iran.' (Reza Derakshani)