Naeemeh Naeemaei:
JAAN
May 17 - June 24, 2023
Artist Reception: Friday, May 19, 5:30-7:30 pm
Karin Clarke Gallery is pleased to introduce a new artist into our schedule of exhibits. Born in Tehran, Iran, in 1984, Naeemeh Naeemaei received her BFA from Tehran Art University in 2006, majoring in sculpture.
Locally, Naeemaei is known from her stunning 2019 exhibit titled Dreams Before Extinction, at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Regarding her work generally, she says: "I have worked on several series and they mostly had a theme related to nature. My recent painting series has an obvious environmental theme blended with cultural and social issues."
In 2022, Naeemaei exhibited her JAAN series at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland. It features eight stunning, large format photographs on canvas painted with ink made from Willamette National Forest ash. In her statement, she states:
.. Jaan is a visual dialogue with nature. It's also about unifying with nature through a practice of camouflage, intimation, and finally, dissolving in nature. A form of respectful interaction in which I replaced my body with a delicate red scarf which was initially part of my costume in my painting series. Through this journey, I try to get closer to nature, mostly plants and animals in the Pacific Northwest to play the role of a healer by getting into cracks and wounds as an artery, and being a bandage over broken bodies. Eventually, by the end of the final stage, there would be no body and soon no trace of my presence. Jaan is a Persian word meaning soul, life, and also dearest. Nature is "Jaan".
In addition to the JAAN series, we are able to present Naeemaei's most recent work, a just-completed series of mixed media works called Arterioles . Join us at the Gallery on May 19 to experience this powerful body of work and to meet the artist. The Reception will begin at 5:30.