October 5, 2023 - January 31, 2024
Arriving in Silicon Valley in 2013, Sameh Khalatbari was greeted by a torrent of social media. She was "friended" and "liked" by people she'd never met. Even those she got to know were more inclined to interact online than to pick up the phone and say "hello." As an immigrant from Iran, Khalatbari was not surprised to find superior technology in Northern California, but what puzzled her was the way people used these technical advantages to thwart their humanity.
The more she experienced life in Silicon Valley, the more she perceived degrees of alienation, first from the natural world, then from fellow humans, and finally, for each pixilated individual, from the soul within. "In the virtual sphere," she says, "our digital selves transcend reality, concealed behind layers of deceit and masks that obscure our true essence."
"Alienation" is Sameh Khalatbari's stirring response to a decade spent in a place that becomes more virtual every day. In contrast to her politically-driven abstract multi-media series "1401 N/m² Resistance" (2023), a reflection on the Iranian women's movement, "Alienation" focuses on the interpersonal dynamics of social disruption via technology in the western world. Each painting in her new series depicts a woman like herself, portrayed in shades of gray, donning a mask evocative of the face of an animal, but rendered with origami folds that betray their artifice.
"Unlike us, animals require no masks," Khalatbari explains. "They act in alignment with their primal needs-hunting, eating, sleeping, and surviving. In stark contrast, humanity, driven by desires, often adorns masks, sometimes cloaking their actions under the guise of animalistic norms. As the world marches forward, it is humans who seem to behave strangely, while the animal kingdom remains steadfast."
Free
Presented by MODERNISM INC..
show less
Arriving in Silicon Valley in 2013, Sameh Khalatbari was greeted by a torrent of social media. She was "friended" and "liked" by people she'd never met. Even those she got to know were more inclined to interact online than to pick up the phone and say "hello." As an immigrant from Iran, Khalatbari was not surprised to find superior technology in Northern California, but what puzzled her was the way people used these technical advantages to thwart their humanity.
The more she experienced life in Silicon Valley, the more she perceived degrees of alienation, first from the natural world, then from fellow humans, and finally, for each pixilated individual, from the soul within. "In the virtual sphere," she says, "our digital selves transcend reality, concealed behind layers of deceit and masks that obscure our true essence."
"Alienation" is Sameh Khalatbari's stirring response to a decade spent in a place that becomes more virtual every day. In contrast to her politically-driven abstract multi-media series "1401 N/m² Resistance" (2023), a reflection on the Iranian women's movement, "Alienation" focuses on the interpersonal dynamics of social disruption via technology in the western world. Each painting in her new series depicts a woman like herself, portrayed in shades of gray, donning a mask evocative of the face of an animal, but rendered with origami folds that betray their artifice.
"Unlike us, animals require no masks," Khalatbari explains. "They act in alignment with their primal needs-hunting, eating, sleeping, and surviving. In stark contrast, humanity, driven by desires, often adorns masks, sometimes cloaking their actions under the guise of animalistic norms. As the world marches forward, it is humans who seem to behave strangely, while the animal kingdom remains steadfast."
Free
Presented by MODERNISM INC..
October 5, 2023 - January 31, 2024
Arriving in Silicon Valley in 2013, Sameh Khalatbari was greeted by a torrent of social media. She was "friended" and "liked" by people she'd never met. Even those she got to know were more inclined to interact online than to pick up the phone and say "hello." As an immigrant from Iran, Khalatbari was not surprised to find superior technology in Northern California, but what puzzled her was the way people used these technical advantages to thwart their humanity.
The more she experienced life in Silicon Valley, the more she perceived degrees of alienation, first from the natural world, then from fellow humans, and finally, for each pixilated individual, from the soul within. "In the virtual sphere," she says, "our digital selves transcend reality, concealed behind layers of deceit and masks that obscure our true essence."
"Alienation" is Sameh Khalatbari's stirring response to a decade spent in a place that becomes more virtual every day. In contrast to her politically-driven abstract multi-media series "1401 N/m² Resistance" (2023), a reflection on the Iranian women's movement, "Alienation" focuses on the interpersonal dynamics of social disruption via technology in the western world. Each painting in her new series depicts a woman like herself, portrayed in shades of gray, donning a mask evocative of the face of an animal, but rendered with origami folds that betray their artifice.
"Unlike us, animals require no masks," Khalatbari explains. "They act in alignment with their primal needs-hunting, eating, sleeping, and surviving. In stark contrast, humanity, driven by desires, often adorns masks, sometimes cloaking their actions under the guise of animalistic norms. As the world marches forward, it is humans who seem to behave strangely, while the animal kingdom remains steadfast."
Free
Presented by MODERNISM INC..
read more
Arriving in Silicon Valley in 2013, Sameh Khalatbari was greeted by a torrent of social media. She was "friended" and "liked" by people she'd never met. Even those she got to know were more inclined to interact online than to pick up the phone and say "hello." As an immigrant from Iran, Khalatbari was not surprised to find superior technology in Northern California, but what puzzled her was the way people used these technical advantages to thwart their humanity.
The more she experienced life in Silicon Valley, the more she perceived degrees of alienation, first from the natural world, then from fellow humans, and finally, for each pixilated individual, from the soul within. "In the virtual sphere," she says, "our digital selves transcend reality, concealed behind layers of deceit and masks that obscure our true essence."
"Alienation" is Sameh Khalatbari's stirring response to a decade spent in a place that becomes more virtual every day. In contrast to her politically-driven abstract multi-media series "1401 N/m² Resistance" (2023), a reflection on the Iranian women's movement, "Alienation" focuses on the interpersonal dynamics of social disruption via technology in the western world. Each painting in her new series depicts a woman like herself, portrayed in shades of gray, donning a mask evocative of the face of an animal, but rendered with origami folds that betray their artifice.
"Unlike us, animals require no masks," Khalatbari explains. "They act in alignment with their primal needs-hunting, eating, sleeping, and surviving. In stark contrast, humanity, driven by desires, often adorns masks, sometimes cloaking their actions under the guise of animalistic norms. As the world marches forward, it is humans who seem to behave strangely, while the animal kingdom remains steadfast."
Free
Presented by MODERNISM INC..
show less
Date/Times:
724 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94121
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