Shahpour Pouyan b. 1979
After, Rustam, the great epic hero of the Iran, was lured by his treacherous half-brother to ride over a hidden pit implanted with spears, which impaled him and his trusted horse Raksh, 2018
Mixed Media on Hahnemühle cotton paper
31.99 x 21.08 cm
12 5/8 x 8 1/4 in
Frame Dimensions: 62.8 x 48.2 cm | 24 3/4 x 19 in
12 5/8 x 8 1/4 in
Frame Dimensions: 62.8 x 48.2 cm | 24 3/4 x 19 in
Copyright The Artist
Original miniature dated A.H. 887/A.D. 1482, Made in Shiraz, Iran, MET public domain In his Miniatures, Pouyan presents illustrations that have been reworked from celebrated Persian manuscripts, editing out any...
Original miniature dated A.H. 887/A.D. 1482, Made in Shiraz, Iran, MET public domain
In his Miniatures, Pouyan presents illustrations that have been reworked from celebrated Persian manuscripts, editing out any of the details that are mythological, anachronistic or have since vanished. In practice this means editing out the figures, using both digital and manual means. In concurrence with Incarnation of the Body Politic, Pouyan has selected historical miniatures with subjects that include torture and executions of heroes, martyrs, and thinkers from Persian miniatures, and siege engines used in Mongol campaigns. In these images, we have the title of the image and the story that is written in Persian text or Arabic. Missing in Pouyan’s Miniatures are the figures of heroes, executioners and observers, all of whom have been left out. Certain aspects – towers made of skulls, trebuchets, pits of sharpened spears – all take on a very different appearance and meaning without their human protagonists – in many ways mimicking the failure of Incarnation of the Body Politic as a functional object. Missing figures in these Miniatures included Mazdak, the first proto-socialist who was impaled by the Persian Sassanian king and Mansour Hallaj, the famous Sufi and spiritual leader in medieval Persia. Other works from Pouyan’s Miniatures series are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, New York, the British Museum and the Grey Art Gallery, New York.
In his Miniatures, Pouyan presents illustrations that have been reworked from celebrated Persian manuscripts, editing out any of the details that are mythological, anachronistic or have since vanished. In practice this means editing out the figures, using both digital and manual means. In concurrence with Incarnation of the Body Politic, Pouyan has selected historical miniatures with subjects that include torture and executions of heroes, martyrs, and thinkers from Persian miniatures, and siege engines used in Mongol campaigns. In these images, we have the title of the image and the story that is written in Persian text or Arabic. Missing in Pouyan’s Miniatures are the figures of heroes, executioners and observers, all of whom have been left out. Certain aspects – towers made of skulls, trebuchets, pits of sharpened spears – all take on a very different appearance and meaning without their human protagonists – in many ways mimicking the failure of Incarnation of the Body Politic as a functional object. Missing figures in these Miniatures included Mazdak, the first proto-socialist who was impaled by the Persian Sassanian king and Mansour Hallaj, the famous Sufi and spiritual leader in medieval Persia. Other works from Pouyan’s Miniatures series are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, New York, the British Museum and the Grey Art Gallery, New York.