IRANIAN artist Marjan Fahimi had first exhibited at Domus Art Gallery in 2016, together with Giusy Lauriola in the exhibition ‘Dreamland’. She now returns to the gallery for a solo exhibition entitled ‘Crossover’, curated by Giulia Coccia. The exhibition will be inaugurated on Saturday, October 21.  

Fahimi’s work speaks of movement, flowing rhythms and the ethereal nature of being. It echoes the essence of the fast-paced world we live in, where change is inevitable, where cultures collide and fuse, creating new realities in the process. Colour plays a key role, adding magic and mystery to her artistic worlds, which are primarily abstract, but in which the viewer is invited to discover forms and figures, adding their own associations and memories to the work. The viewer’s input in abstract art is after all, one of its beauties: its fluid nature can speak differently to each person who confronts it. However that ‘grey zone’ between abstraction and figuration is also an intriguing place in which to be, for an artist, and can add a psychological perspective to the creative process, which in this case allows Fahimi to explore both her roots and her new surroundings.

Born in Tehran in 1982, Fahimi became an active member of the Tehran art scene, exhibiting in important galleries such as Elahe Art Gallery, Bahman Cultural Center, Robat Art Gallery. She also had two solo exhibitions there: in 2003 with the “Urban Details” project at Atbin Art Gallery and in 2004 with the exhibition “Birds” at Seyhoon Art Gallery. The latter period of work is particularly influenced by the city and its landscapes, details and urban views seen so closely as to become abstract images, the only creatures to animate the scene are the birds, almost always sitting to contemplate the passageways of the concrete city.

In 2004 Fahimi came to Rome to study architecture. It was there that her artistic vision was changed, by her contact with Renaissance and Baroque art. Subsequently she moved to the roman countryside, moving closer to nature and undertaking research on the naturalistic component of the landscape and its poetics, interpreting it in an abstract manner where the subjects are mainly characterized by views that highlight the main atmospheric phenomena: wind, clouds, rain and light.

Her search for an equilibrium between figurative and abstract guides her artistic practice and has led her to combine the realism of the form with the lyric of sentiment. Stylistic research is combined with an experimental technique, mostly layered. The use of transparent resin in her artistic production is quite recent: she experimented for the first time with it in 2016.

Art Scene Athens caught up with Fahimi for a discussion on her work, and the upcoming exhibition at Domus Art Gallery:

– First of all, let’s discuss roots and cultural baggage. As an expat artist living in Rome, but whose country of origin is Iran, you have described your work as a ‘crossover’ or a ‘cross contamination between past experiences and new cultural baggage’. What would you say has infiltrated your art from these two cultures?

I was 22 years old when I came to Italy, bringing along experiences and traditions that radiated in me. I began putting down roots in this new land, however I was still tied to Iran by invisible threads. The creative quest of expat artists is made out of a cross contamination between past experiences and new cultural baggage. We can define it as a cultural crossover. As I came to Rome, being in contact with Renaissance and Baroque art changed my artistic vision in a perceptible way and since then I have tried to merge this new vision into my art and find an equilibrium between them.

– The quest towards abstract art is harder than it seems. It is a journey to the unknown, while representational art is anchored in the known forms of reality. Tell us about this journey and why you chose abstract over figurative.

My work has always been defined as abstract while maintaining figurative as a starting point. From time to time, I happened to notice a brushstroke or a color stain on the canvas that suggested the idea of a figure in my mind, but I never paid great attention to it, since I was keeping my view focused on abstract. Only recently, I realized that the canvas was showing me more and more figures and faces at an embryonic stage, floating in the atmosphere of the paintings and inviting me to give them shape. What convinced me even more to explore these random events, was the engagement from people who would read into my work figures, faces, animals and landscapes.

Everyone who faces the work brings into it his own sensitivity, his personal and cultural experience, so that every single interaction becomes a new execution. Through the viewer’s eye the work is reborn to an ever-changing original life and turns into a MOVING WORK or “OPEN WORK” to quote the late great philosopher Umberto Eco.

– From the urban to the natural environment: you have explored both via your art. From the concrete urban environment of Tehran, to the natural environment of the northern suburbs of Rome and its countryside. Would you say that your art reflects your life in a sense, and your observations about the environment you are living in?

I think that art always reflects the life of the artist in a conscious and instinctive way. All artists represent what surrounds them even when they choose an abstract language. Most of the times we choose art as a way to analyze the most important quests of our lives and to find answers.

– This is the second time you are exhibiting in Greece. The first time was in a two- person exhibition at Domus Art Gallery, and this time you are returning to show us your new body of work in a solo exhibition. As an artist, how do you see Greece? Are there connections that you see with the other cultures in your life? The Iranian and the Italian?

This is the second time that I come to Greece but I have always had a crush on this country. For me Greece as well as Italy and Persia represent the fulcrum of culture for humanity. These three great countries had a great role in the story and I’m so honored to be bonded in a way with all of them.

– From painting to resin art, your artist process has changed through the years. The first works you exhibited in Greece were your paintings, but now we will get to see your new resin creations. What is it that made you explore this medium and how does it compare/contrast to painting?

I started experimenting with resin in 2016 but it took me years to sublimate the technique. This material has many qualities that fascinate me, for example it helps to increase color perception and gives the painting special depth. But what I love the most about it is how it interacts with the space reflecting in itself and what surrounds it.

Of course I don’t use this material on every painting. For most of the works present in the ‘Crossover’ exhibition I used traditional oil painting technique because using resin on them could ruin the material perception of the works where the brushstrokes have a crucial importance. I look forward to the upcoming exhibition and to see how viewers will experience these works.

Domus Art Gallery:

Domus Art Gallery is run by Italian gallerist Glenda Lorenzani. Only a few weeks after having moved to Athens from Rome in 2014, she initially set up Domus Art Project, opening her house to the public and transgressing the norms of art as only being shown in galleries. By combining the concept of the home with that of the gallery, Lorenzani created a much more intimate space to show art. Later, in 2021, and with a change of venue, Domus Art Project turned into Domus Art Gallery.

Glenda Lorenzani’s intriguing art space has gone from strength to strength, building a concept which not only goes beyond the normal gallery space, but which has also pushed the limits of art, presenting creativity that exceeds the traditional notions of art, by integrating other mediums into the mix, e.g. weaving, ceramics, fashion, tattoos, photography, resin, printing and even the mobile phone photograph.

But these are not the only crossovers that Lorenzani has presented at Domus, seeing as her artspace has also been the premises where Italian and Greek artists have often met, collaborated and presented their work, thus creating a bridge between these two neighboring cultures in particular.

• Marjam Fahimi’s solo exhibition ‘Crossover’ at Domus Art Gallery opens on October 21, 6-11pm. Domus Art Gallery is on 28 Proussis Street, Vari, 16672, Athens, Greece.
• For more information contact gallerist Glenda Lorenzani, +30 6907477997, info@domusartgalleryathens.com, or visit the gallery’s site

• Opening hours: 21st October 2023 (Opening Day): 6-11pm; 22nd October – 5th December: Upon Request;

• Social Media: Instagram: @domus_art_gallery_athens; Facebook: Domus Art Gallery

‘Art Scene Athens’ is written/run by artist/journalist Stella Sevastopoulos. Dedicated to presenting what is happening on the Greek art scene (but not only), and also to giving Greek artists an international voice on the internet. For more on Stella Sevastopoulos’s art, click here If you would like to be featured in Art Scene Athens, please send email (stelsevas@yahoo.com).