site.btaIranian Artist Shahriar Mazandi Stages First Exhibition in Bulgaria

Iranian painter and photographer Shahriar Mazandi is showcasing his art in Bulgaria for the first time. His exhibition Altered Realms is curated by Desislava Zafirova and will be on display between February 24 and March 24 at Sofia's One Gallery, the event's organizers said.

Shahriar Mazandi's art is inspired by the multicultural influences which have shaped his creative and personal journey. Being a product of Anglo-Iranian multiculturalism, his artistic exploration is influenced by 13th-century Persian poet Rumi and by English classical scholar and poet A.E. Housman, the organizers said.

Growing up in England, Mazandi was closely connected to both Judaism and Christianity. He has chosen to launch his exhibition in Bulgaria as he sees a deep significance in sending his messages from a country standing at the border between East and West in geopolitical terms.

"Mazandi's work explores the visible and the invisible - what lies beyond the boundaries of three-dimensional perception," said the organizers.

His conventional photographs are minimalist, relying on key compositional elements, often featuring distant objects within vast landscapes. This raises the question: Are we mere specks in a vast universe, or does each of us have a greater purpose?

Mazandi's cityscapes have a strong focal point, acting as an "axis of the world", with buildings or structures serving as linking rods between different realms - above and below. By linking visual art, music and poetry, his work delves into uncharted territories of human perception, language and the subconscious. His art defies categorization, blending traditional and digital techniques to create works pulsing with an almost hypnotic intensity, the organizers said.

Mazandi's unique approach to text and form is at the core of his art. "His early poetic experiments laid the groundwork for a visual language balanced between word and image, meaning and abstraction. His typographic experiments challenge the way we perceive language, urging us to see words not just as carriers of meaning, but as dynamic visual objects," the gallery's team added.