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Lot Essay
Imbued with a powerful symbolism, the series of Heech sculptures produced by the pre-eminent Iranian artist Parviz Tanavoli since the 1970s, reflect his talent to innovate the artistic culture of his native country. Born in Tehran in 1937, he nonetheless completed his studies in Brera Academy of Milan in 1959 and then he became lecturer and professor of sculpture at Minneapolis College of Art and Design for three years. He still remains as a great reference of the Saqqakhaneh group which sought for the combination between Shi’ia tradition and modernity. Christie’s is proud to offer this season the present impressive Standing Lovers Heech as well as a smaller example Heech Lovers (lot 54), which are both unmissable examples of the artist’s entire oeuvre.
The Farsi word Saqqakhaneh, from the Arabic ‘Siqaya’, literally ‘to water or to give’, indicates a small room built in bazaars, onto which the passers-by would make donations by tying up a piece of cloth or hanging locks hoping for their prayers to become true and hence perceiving these fountains alike shrines. Thus, the art movement is related to this edifice insofar as the artists and sculptors intensively invite the viewer to a spiritual journey. Composed of three letters in Persian language, “h”, “e” and “ch”, the single word ‘heech’ means 'nothing'. It effectively reflects the feelings of unworthiness, frustration and ineffectiveness, which haunt modern man and permeate so much of the writing of contemporary literature. It also renders in a single word the mystical belief that God is permanent, while everything else has no true substance, bound to vanish. Long before the sculptor, the notion of ‘heech’ was explored and studied by poets including the father of Sufism, Jalal Rumi (1207-1273), but also Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) and Hafez (1315- 1390). A philosophical concept that went beyond borders, the core of ‘heech’ also profoundly inspired Western poets and writers including Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) who in 1943 published his famous essay entitled Being and Nothingness, reflecting upon the phenomenological consciousness. While ‘heech’ can refer to despair and absence of being, Parviz Tanavoli's interpretation of the ‘heech’ is more nearly synonymous with creativity itself: it is the void filled by the artist's imagination, the nothing that through his carving and shaping becomes something and everything.
The artist’s signature ‘heech’ carries different meanings and is materialized in different forms and narratives. He has produced works that explore this notion in various sizes and materials, from bronze to fiberglass and also more recently in neon lights and delicate jewellery. ‘Heech’ can stand alone as a majestic figure resembling the contours of a human body; it can be doubled like two figures as is the case of the monumental Standing Lovers Heech made of polished bronze and fiberglass, as seen in the present lot. It can also emerge from a cage, sit on a chair, lie beneath a table and in all these instances, it essentially revives simultaneously the core concepts of existence and nothingness while reflecting on the realities of the contemporary society. ‘Heech’ is abstract, philosophical, spiritual and at the same time sensuous.
Inspired by nastalīq - one of the predominant script styles of the Persian calligraphy, Parviz Tanavoli reinforced the emotional dimension in these creations. In Standing Lovers Heech, executed in 2007, the sinuous figures do not embrace but are stand alongside and are stable, with flexibility, on the square base. They form a perfect harmony and adopt the same position, almost anthropomorphic, which signifies their common expectations, dreams. In the other piece entitled Heech Lovers made of fiberglass, Tanavoli reused the theme of harmony, balance and love. Finally, these undeniably museum quality works erect the bridge between man and the divine as well as they celebrate balance of love.
Currently based between Vancouver and Tehran, Parviz Tanavoli is a leading influence to a generation of artists in Iran. Tanavoli's sixty year long career and artistic production have been recently celebrated internationally through major exhibitions including his first US retrospective at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, The World Goes Pop at the Tate Modern in London and the ongoing exhibition Global/Local 1960-2015: Six Artists from Iran which opened at the Grey Art Gallery at NYU in January 2016.
The Farsi word Saqqakhaneh, from the Arabic ‘Siqaya’, literally ‘to water or to give’, indicates a small room built in bazaars, onto which the passers-by would make donations by tying up a piece of cloth or hanging locks hoping for their prayers to become true and hence perceiving these fountains alike shrines. Thus, the art movement is related to this edifice insofar as the artists and sculptors intensively invite the viewer to a spiritual journey. Composed of three letters in Persian language, “h”, “e” and “ch”, the single word ‘heech’ means 'nothing'. It effectively reflects the feelings of unworthiness, frustration and ineffectiveness, which haunt modern man and permeate so much of the writing of contemporary literature. It also renders in a single word the mystical belief that God is permanent, while everything else has no true substance, bound to vanish. Long before the sculptor, the notion of ‘heech’ was explored and studied by poets including the father of Sufism, Jalal Rumi (1207-1273), but also Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) and Hafez (1315- 1390). A philosophical concept that went beyond borders, the core of ‘heech’ also profoundly inspired Western poets and writers including Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) who in 1943 published his famous essay entitled Being and Nothingness, reflecting upon the phenomenological consciousness. While ‘heech’ can refer to despair and absence of being, Parviz Tanavoli's interpretation of the ‘heech’ is more nearly synonymous with creativity itself: it is the void filled by the artist's imagination, the nothing that through his carving and shaping becomes something and everything.
The artist’s signature ‘heech’ carries different meanings and is materialized in different forms and narratives. He has produced works that explore this notion in various sizes and materials, from bronze to fiberglass and also more recently in neon lights and delicate jewellery. ‘Heech’ can stand alone as a majestic figure resembling the contours of a human body; it can be doubled like two figures as is the case of the monumental Standing Lovers Heech made of polished bronze and fiberglass, as seen in the present lot. It can also emerge from a cage, sit on a chair, lie beneath a table and in all these instances, it essentially revives simultaneously the core concepts of existence and nothingness while reflecting on the realities of the contemporary society. ‘Heech’ is abstract, philosophical, spiritual and at the same time sensuous.
Inspired by nastalīq - one of the predominant script styles of the Persian calligraphy, Parviz Tanavoli reinforced the emotional dimension in these creations. In Standing Lovers Heech, executed in 2007, the sinuous figures do not embrace but are stand alongside and are stable, with flexibility, on the square base. They form a perfect harmony and adopt the same position, almost anthropomorphic, which signifies their common expectations, dreams. In the other piece entitled Heech Lovers made of fiberglass, Tanavoli reused the theme of harmony, balance and love. Finally, these undeniably museum quality works erect the bridge between man and the divine as well as they celebrate balance of love.
Currently based between Vancouver and Tehran, Parviz Tanavoli is a leading influence to a generation of artists in Iran. Tanavoli's sixty year long career and artistic production have been recently celebrated internationally through major exhibitions including his first US retrospective at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, The World Goes Pop at the Tate Modern in London and the ongoing exhibition Global/Local 1960-2015: Six Artists from Iran which opened at the Grey Art Gallery at NYU in January 2016.