Red Interrogation, 2012
oil on linen, 40.6 x 51.4 cm

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Becoming Dazzled, 2008
oil on linen, 40 x 40 cm

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Artist Proof, 2011
oil on canvas, 27.9 x 35.6 cm

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Dazzle Men, 2008
oil on linen, 40 x 50.5 cm

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Light Parody, 2012
oil on linen, 35.6 × 27.9 cm

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Up and Down, 2012
oil on linen, 52.1 x 59.7 cm

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Menn RR Hot, 2011
oil on linen, 30.5 x 45.7 cm

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Projector, 2011
oil on linen, 35.6 x 30.5 cm

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Light Balance, 2013
oil on linen, 50.8 x 40.6 cm

all images courtesy of the artist, and Pilar Corrias Gallery, London

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Living and working in Los Angeles, California, the Tehran-born artist TALA MADANI approaches painting with an uncommon playfulness.

In fact, whether it be painting, drawing or animation, MADANI is above all a creator of situations. Like cartoons strips, the images she produces have that melancholic and yet timeless atmosphere where her sometimes grotesque, but often gruesome and nonchalant characters – exclusively middle-aged men- are conjugated on the abstract surface of the canvas where all action seems frozen. We find ourselves in the temporal ambivalence of the joke, clueless, not knowing if we have arrived too late or too early.

Laughter is quite interesting, because it’s not necessarily “ha ha funny” laughter, sometimes it’s a burst of energy, this intensity of whatever’s coming up. – TALA MADANI interviewed by SYNNE RIFBJERG at Moderna Museet Malmö, 2013

Since receiving her MFA from Yale University School of Art in 2006, she has exhibited in several solo and group shows including Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam (2011); Manual Man, Pilar Corrias, London (2011); He disappeared into complete silence; rereading a single artwork by Louise Bourgeois, Museum De Hallen, Amsterdam (2011); Speech Matters, Danish Pavilion at the 54th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venice (2011); The Great New York, P.S. 1 MoMA, New York (2010); 4th Tirana International Contempoary Art Biennial, Tirana (2009); Greater New Younger than Jesus, New Museum, New York (2009).

I highly recommend to watch this Frieze video where she speaks about painting and animation. You can see some of MADANI‘s animations on the Frieze vimeo channel.

And good news: TALA MADANI’s largest solo exhibition to date, Tala Madani: Rip Image, at Moderna Museet Stockholm opens on 24 May, 2013 and is running through October 27, 2013.

Additionally her work is included in The Future Generation Art Prize@Venice 2013 on view at Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice (Italy) from 1 June to 1 September 2013.

 

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