The Rumor Circuit, 2004

At Amineddoleh & Associates, we are proud to represent many talents. Amongst them is visual artist Kamrooz Aram. His current group shows at Peter Blum Gallery in New York, NY, and Z33 in Hasselt, Belgium, give us the opportunity to highlight his work and career.

Based in Brooklyn, NY, Aram was born in Shiraz, Iran. He received a BFA from Maryland Institute’s College of Art and an MFA from Columbia University. His work questions the complex relationship between ornament and the so-called decorative arts and Modernism. He also engages architecture through painting and exhibition design by using physical spaces in his art. In his current two-person exhibit at Z33, Lives of Forms, Aram and his colleague Iman Issa use the gallery space as a tool to expand their work. In Luster on Blue Glaze (2021), Aram’s small painting of a Middle Eastern vase is framed by small geometric shapes of mat colors, with the vase collaged from a book documenting Iranian ceramics. The ensemble is surrounded by a scarlet red wall. The viewer’s eyes are caught between the artifact’s delicacy and timelessness, at the center, and the contrasting grandiosity of modern abstraction.

Untitled (Arabesque Composition), 2021

Field of Vision, at Peter Blum Gallery, like Lives of Forms, include some of Aram’s Arabesques compositions. The term Arabesque, according to Aram, has several definitions. The most common refers to the leafy and floral forms that might ornament a carpet or a tiled wall. The word’s etymology suggests a form that is Arab-like. The term was created by Europeans. At first glance, his Arabesque series represents large floral grids surrounded by a border. However, just like Luster on Blue Glaze’s play on space, the Arabesques’ borders become part of the grid. The frame and the enclosed content merge into a singular composition. The exposed grid lines and the artist’s visible strokes add an organic element to the works. This technique also gives the impression that the paintings are worn by time and have survived from a different era. Aram uses a variety of mediums, including oil, acrylic, and wax pencil.

Luster on Blue Glaze, 2021

Aram’s work has been acquired by well-known public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio; the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; and M+, Hong Kong. He has been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout the world, including in New York, Dubai, Belgium, Texas, and Chicago. He was awarded the Abraaj Group Art Prize (2014) and has won grants from Art Matters, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship Program. His work has been reviewed in Art in America, Artforum.com, The New York Times, Asian Art Newspaper, ArtReview, The Village Voice, the Wall Street Journal, and the arts and culture segment on BBC Persian: Tamasha.

Field of Vision is on view at Peter Blum Gallery through July 30, 2021.
Lives of Forms is on view at Z33 through August 1, 2021.
For press inquiries or questions about Aram’s work, please contact the artist at kamroozaram.studio@gmail.com