Firooz Zahedi: that was then, this is now

Event Date: 

Saturday, July 14, 2018 - 12:00am to Sunday, September 2, 2018 - 12:00am

July 14 – September 2, 2018

Hollywood photographs have been a subject of attention for decades, both as works of art in their own right and as rich fodder for artistic interpretation. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn of the 1960s and Cindy Sherman’s Film Stills series of the late 1970s are only the most famous examples of artists who have analyzed, critiqued or sought to undermine the hold such images have on our imagination. In the spectrum of consumption within which celebrity and stardom exist, Hollywood photographs have been a favorite subject of appropriative strategies for decades. Unlike others who have done so, however, Firooz Zahedi (b. 1949, Tehran, Iran) has worked inside the magical circle of Hollywood.

Zahedi is a significant Hollywood photographer who has created memorable images of celebrities for decades. Any number of Zahedi’s photographs are deeply embedded in our cultural imagination, from the shot of Uma Thurman on the Pulp Fiction poster to hundreds of images of Elizabeth Taylor. In recent years he has begun to manipulate his commercial work in different ways, examining it self-reflexively. In so doing he comments on both his own work and the image system in which it operates. This exhibition will include more than a dozen works by the artist, as well as vintage glamour prints that will establish historical context of the history Zahedi deconstructs.

This exhibition has been generously supported by the Museum Council of the AD&A Museum.

 

Firooz Zahedi, Giant 1,  1978,  35mm color transparency