Untitled 4

Shiva Ahmadi Iranian-American

Not on view

Ahmadi’s sparing use of color in this drawing makes it all the more compelling. The elephants, rendered in pencil, seem to gravitate around an ambiguous red blotch that resembles a masked face. Visually, we are drawn to the human figure, whose face is also obscured with red marks. Ahmadi does not make these connections overt, but rather constructs a scene full of uncertainty and threat: elephants bound by rope, floating amidst contemporary warfare.

Untitled 4, Shiva Ahmadi (Iranian, born Tehran, 1975), Graphite and pencil on Arches paper

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