Life is Beautiful is a 2009 installation by Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri using hundreds of kitchen knives to create some exquisite typography. (via notcot)
FARHAD MOSHIRI
“Life is beautiful” 2009
Knives / Couteaux
Dimensions according to space / 3,25 x 6,16 m
Photograph: © Guillaume Ziccarelli
Courtesy: Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong & Paris
Born in 1963 in Shiraz, Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Lives and works between Tehran, Iran and Paris, France
Farhad Moshiri’s mixed-media practice spans painting, assemblage, and sculpture. Inspired by pop art and conceptualism, he has developed a profoundly hybrid aesthetics at the crossroads of the Middle East and the West. While he usually draws his motifs from American consumer culture (comics, advertising, pop music), he reinterprets them through equally clichéd traditional Persian craftsmanship. His embrace of delicate ornamental techniques, ranging from hand embroidery to calligraphy, offers an ironic and powerful contrast to his otherwise lowbrow visual references. His signature use of sparkly materials (beads, glitter, diamonds) further creates a palpable tension between the primarily figurative quality of his works and their inclination toward pure embellishment. Beneath its humorous and light appearance, Moshiri’s oeuvre takes on a slightly subversive dimension by touching upon his native country’s current transformation.
