Artist research: Y.Z. Kami
Kamran Youssefzadeh Y.Z. Kami was born in 1956, is an artist who is known as a painter, but this does not prevent him from doing photography, installation and sculpture (Artnet, 2024).
“Masque mortuaire de Pascal (Pascal's death masque)” by Y.Z.Kami, 2017
His distinctive feature is the large-scale paintings of ordinary, humble people, which have been described as unearthly, delicate and meditative, which he used in his series of works in Endless Prayers (Gagosian, 2018). It is also worth mentioning that in painting, graphics, collages and sculpture, Y.Z. Kami explores the relationship between the material and spiritual world, the external appearance and the inner life of people. In his large-scale portraits based on personal photographs, he creates face-to-face encounters using the sfumato technique to depict family, friends and strangers with their eyes open or closed, looking straight ahead or down. Worth noting that the sfumato technique is a very interesting way to paint and it intrigues me. Accroding to The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (2016), sfumato (from the Italian sfumare, "to tone down" or "to evaporate"), the delicate shading that creates subtle, undetectable colour and tone changes in paintings and drawings.
These meditative images, executed with matte oil paint on canvas, resemble Byzantine frescoes and Fayum funerary portraits, revealing the unknown and infinite in material form. In his abstract works, Kami continues to explore the interaction of surface and interior, using shapes inspired by geometry, poetry, as well as hazy, oneiric images (Gagosian, 2018).
It is worth noting that his similarity of moral spirit is reflected in his representation of works. For example, he presents himself as a calm person who avoids turmoil and "pornographic" materials, and instead of it, he emphasises the gentleness that binds the artist with the sitter in a deep relationship
“Dry Land” by Y.Z.Kami, 1994-2004
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Among the examples of his work, I want to emphasize his work "Dry Land" (1994-2004), where Kami took an interesting approach to recreating his idea by mixing photographs of dilapidated buildings in Detroit with portraits of tired or thoughtful people (Liverpool Biennial, n.d.). His melancholic, but at the same time lyrical look emphasized the pride and dignity of people, despite the despair and desolation of the photographed environment.
References:
Y.Z.Kami (2017). Masque mortuaire de Pascal (Pascal’s death masque).
Artnet. “Y.Z. Kami Biography.” Artnet.com, 2024, www.artnet.com/artists/yz-kami/biography. Accessed 19 May 2024.
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (2016). Sfumato. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/sfumato.
Liverpool Biennial. “Y. Z. Kami.” Liverpool Biennial, www.biennial.com/artists/y-z-kami/. Accessed 19 May 2024.
There is a lot of very heavy paraphrasing in this post, and also a lot of unnecessary information on the work. From this post I have no idea how this relates to your project in any way.
ReplyDeleteThe point of research is that you look at it and consider how using this as inspiration can enhance your work. Is there an aspect of his technique which you want to use? How are you going to do this?
There is little of your own voice here, this is a very disappointing effort.