Parviz Tanavoli (Iranian, b. 1937)

Parviz Tanavoli's works have sometimes been described as "poetry in bronze". As one of the founders of the Saqqakhaneh School, a neo-traditionalist movement, he believes that sculpture is a kind of poetry. As he says "I wrote my poetry on the surface of the sculpture". For Tanavoli, bronze is the most appropriate material for his sculptural poetry. The main series of Tanavoli's sculptures are Heechs, Poets, Lovers and most notably the Walls, which is exceptionally combined with his Heech in the dazzling piece that is presented here.

While the Heech series seems to be Tanavoli's most famous works, the monumental series of bronzes, the Wall, represents the sculptor’s greatest and most mature achievement. Cast on a wall, the shapely silhouette inspired a relief-like homage. Tanavoli has long been inspired by the word Heech, the Farsi word for "nothing", which has created in numerous and ever more ambitious forms. Comprising three letters in Farsi, to him, the word symbolizes both ambivalence towards the past and a sense of meaninglessness or dissolution with an inadequate present. It represents his reaction to his environment.

Tanavoli’s interest in the word Heech can be divided into four different elements. The first element being mysticism, as it enhances Tanavoli's fascination with the Heech, but he was also drawn to its calligraphic shape because of its resemblance to the human body. The second element is what the word means to him personally. Heech in the hands of Tanavoli means everything; it is fascinating and flexible. It asserts that God is permanent, while everything else has no true substance. It symbolizes the verdict of final condemnation and the powerlessness of mankind.

The third element is what the word means to him as a sculptor. The word Heech, if given dimension from a sculptor's point of view, will be realised as one of the most artistic combinations that the three Farsi letters have made. Only a sculptor can alter the perception of and make various attractive forms that somehow refer to the human being: 'If the astonishing resemblance between a Heech and a human being did not exist, I would have never involved myself in making it', says Tanavoli.

Last but not least, the fourth element of Tanavoli’s fascination with the word is that it also relates on social and political dimensions. For Tanavoli, Heech is the mirror of his time, a form that reflects the events he faces or witnesses. Numerous variations appear of this single word, alone, or in a cage, or together with its beloved are a few to mention. Though it is hard to interpret or translate them in words, one can trace their routes and mystical meanings in the social context of the artist’s life.

By creating his sculptures and thus disclosing his inner world, Tanavoli reveals his emotion and ideas, and at the same time hides these revelations behind the veil of abstraction. In the present work, The Wall and the Heech, the Heech figure is placed between two walls in horizontal direction as though it is being pressed under a heavy press machine. Here the surface of the sculpture is void of any texture or calligraphic elements, often seen in his other walls. By reducing his vocabulary to this versatile anthropomorphous figure, Tanavoli is, in his own way, reacting to the calligraphic excess of the day exploring the formal, the aesthetic and narrative power of a seemingly simple image.