Oct 1st 2021

Maryam Taghavi: A Form By Which To Be Possessed

@ Chicago Artists Coalition

2130 W Fulton St, Chicago, IL 60612

Opening Friday, October 1st, from 5PM - 8PM

On view through Thursday, November 11th

Chicago Artists Coalition is pleased to present, A Form By Which To Be Possessed, a solo exhibition of new works by the BOLT artist-in-residence, Maryam Taghavi. The exhibition will have an opening day on Friday October 1, 2021 from 5-8pm. Walk-ins are welcomed.

In this exhibition, Taghavi’s multitude of paintings exploit a single character; a sigil, an occult letter-form believed to cast a spell upon its viewer. The sigil derives from a book of talismans, The Secrets of Qasemi ( by the 15th-century Persian poet and scholar, Hussein Va’ez Kashefi), in which the power of flight is promised to its viewer.

As a letter-form, the sigil operates outside the ordinary systems of language and meaning-making, opening it to unexpected possibilities. Taghavi is driven by the sigil’s transgressive qualities to transform it into numerous shapes and arrangements that make up new spells to cast. Similar to the sigil, each painting functions as an interface to behold the flight; an escape from reality, an exhilarating state of suspension, and a reach for the metaphysical powers however temporary the touch may be.

Maryam Taghavi is an  artist and educator residing in Chicago. Her work is a study of forms of language beyond their ordinary meaning making systems. She is interested in how language is a multisensory experience and situates her work  across disciplines of photography, installation, video, publication, drawing, and performance.  She has exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as LAXART, Queens Museum, Exterressa Museum, Chicago Cultural Center, Sullivan Galleries, EXPO, Driehaus Museum, and Sazmanab Gallery among others. She is  currently a resident at the Chicago Artists Coalition.

Image: Maryam Taghavi, A Flight into the Abyss, 2019. Acrylic glass, fabric print, digital print on fabric. Installation dimension: 20 x 10 ft.

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