“Hyperreactive Imagination” - Extra Credit Seminar, October 27th
I attended the “Hyperreactive Imagination” seminar which was hosted by Negar Ahkami. Her work has been exhibited in the U.S. and abroad and has been in other private collections. Negar started to go to museums at a young age. She then soon began her artistic journey when she was eighteen years old. Ahkami was constantly exposed to Persian and Iranian artists. She went to the MET at an early age to discover artists and their works. Her work consists of playing around with texture, splattering around acrylic paint and using fine and long lines; she is also influenced by Matisse. She loves talking about work that has oriental like figures and clothing in them so she used some “cartoonish” and menacing imagery. I was fascinated that she has a piece that she painted; it shows a street in Iran. This street is important because they have a “Freedom Tower” and she painted the base of the tower on the right hand side of the canvas. She used complimentary colors such as blue, yellow, white and more. Ahkami has different patterns in her work such as fancy big and small lines that she used with the “fineness” of her brush. There were numerous times where she spoke about Iranian women. She used the words, “occidentalism, consumerism, and subversion”. Ahkami then reached a phase where she cut out paper in this instance, it was Russian ballet and more oriental-dressed women. She then made a sketch diary that consists of photos of a young married woman that she thought would perhaps murder her. I was glad that I went to this seminar; learning about different cultures within art is a great experience. I am looking forward to attending more seminars in the future.