sculpture
- Museum number
- 2007,6021.1
- Title
- Object: Red Heech
- Description
-
Large red fibreglass sculpture of the Persian word 'Heech' (nothing).
- Production date
- 2001
- Dimensions
-
Height: 290 centimetres (with plinth)
-
Height: 178 centimetres (without plinth)
-
Thickness: 180 centimetres
-
Width: 286 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- The foremost Iranian artist Parviz Tanavoli was a founder member of 'Saqqakhaneh', a term coined for an artistic movement that began in Iran during the 1960s and which sought to integrate popular symbols of Shi'a culture in art - a "spiritual Pop Art", as it has been described. He has long been inspired by the word "heech" - meaning "nothing" - which he has created in numerous and ever more ambitious forms. It has been said that the word symbolises for him both an ambivalence towards the past and a sense of meaninglessness or dissatisfaction with an inadequate present. The letter forms are in the traditional Persian 'nasta'liq' script (Porter 2008, 57).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2012 April - August, Abu Dhabi, Manarat Al Saadiyat, 'Treasures of the World’s Cultures'
2008 7 Feb-30 Apr, Dubai International Finance Centre, Word into Art, cat.58
2006 18 May-2 Sept, London, BM, Word into Art
- Acquisition date
- 2007
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- 2007,6021.1
