Game

Statement:

+2 is proud to present "Game", the latest collection of works by Hossein Maher, opening September 30, 2022. The show will be on view until October 21. "Game" consists of paintings and sculptures by the veteran artist done over the last ten years. This is the first time this collection is being shown.

"Game" here refers to an intuitive process whereby the canvas becomes the playground of explorations, selections, elaborations, and eliminations. Works in this exhibition are unalloyed and tightly-composed, yet they are emblematic of the long-standing practice of the artist. Rotund bodies, at once light and heavy, are arranged in the space of the canvas through the play of light and the elimination of setting. Tiny wings appearing on the back of these characters do not support their heft and become instead testimonials to flight. Game is also a subject in this series. Characters hardly display a will to engage in the game.

It seems, rather, that the artist is the only agent here and his characters are but game chips. To be a player presupposes luck, accompanied usually by loss, but it seems that luck plays no role for players in this "Game".

Mohammad Hossein Maher (b. 1957, Abadan, Iran) lives and works in Tehran. He is a graduate of Painting from the faculty of fine arts (1979). He has held 30 solo exhibitions, including at Assar Art Gallery (2007, 2008), Etemad Art Gallery (2009), and Ariana Gallery (2014), and participated in more than 50 group exhibitions. "Plants", a book based on his drawings of native flowers and plants, was published in 2010. Two other published books focus on different periods of his professional career.