Shahpour Pouyan features in a group exhibition at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., presenting two of his intricate miniature works: Khorsus and Ships Loaded with Treasures (2019) and “After” Muhammad and the Angel of Snow and Fire (2017).
Rooted in Persian artistic traditions, Pouyan’s work explores themes of power, historical memory, and displacement. Through meticulous detail and reimagined narratives, he bridges the past and present, offering a contemporary reflection on cultural identity and transformation.
Maximal Miniatures features the work of 13 leading contemporary Iranian artists who reimagine the rich visual tradition of the Persian miniature genre through inventive formal techniques, including experimentations with scale, color, composition, figuration, and abstraction. As an art form, the Persian miniature is grounded in a relationship between text and image in which paintings refer to poetic verses, stories from the Book of Kings (Shahnameh), important battles, heroes, and heroines, using a combination of calligraphic lines, architectural forms, and human figures. LEARN MORE.