NADER AHRIMAN (NÉ EN 1964)

Schattenbild eines Musters MoglicherEnpirischer Anschauungen (description-machine), 1999 Huile sur toile. Oil on canvas. H_240 cm L_290 cm "No one would borrow the phrase dumb as a painter to describe Nader Ahriman, but someone might ask to borrow a copy of Thus Spake Zarathustra. A section of that Nietzsche classic, set on the volcanic isle of Stromboli, inspired the allegorical paintings (stilted) and watercolors (terrific) in Mr. Ahriman's debut at this gallery, his first New York show since 1998." "Like Zarathustra, the painter is Persian. Like Nietzsche, he lives in Germany, where he studied art, as did Giorgio De Chirico, the Italian Surrealist who looms large in this show's crisp rendering, desolate open spaces, jutting diagonals and pair of faceless mannequins. Their robotic limbs - one mummified arm sprouts paintbrushes instead of fingers - are styled on the mechanomorphs of Francis Picabia and Max Ernst."