Four seasons
solo exhibition by Fereydoun Ave at Khak Gallery
by Ali Ettehad

Fereydoun Ave believes that changing seasons is a cycle tends toward hope. The series “Four seasons” is a poem in praise of hope; the growth and revival of what was going to be decayed. This series is dedicated to the late Artist Cy Twombly whom Ave name simply as a friend and a mentor; to whom he owes his aesthetic perception and says: “not only this one, but all my series are dedicated to Twombly”.
He started to create this series in 2000 and slowly completed it in twelve years. The first work of this series is a small four-pieced painting that reminds his water color series “Tehran”and “Paris” (1990). Those delicate works were impressively based on the contrast between color and the blank spaces.
A little while later at the same year some large paintings came to exist. We may say that those large paintings were the footstones for the series “Four seasons”. In his huge eight-pieced painting, Ave divides the seasons into prelude and conclusion portraying each in separate pieces. The conclusion part is being executed on the burnished side of the canvas; and the prelude part on the back of the canvas where no preparation was made. The mentioned work corresponds to the celebrated work of Cy Twombly with the same name “Four seasons” -1994, Tate Modern- aesthetically and theoretically; far more than the other works of Ave’s series. Recreating Twombly’s idea, this time Ave divides each season into two parts. In one piece the colors are being flooded; melted and sometimes absorbed to the canvas while on the other piece remained under the artist’s control. Representing these two pieces next to each other bring to mind time lapse vividly. Dividing seasons reminds another series by Ave “Rostam in late summer” (2000) the series which was related to season changing either by using the images of fruits and flowers or its name. Specific elements of each season, however, for Ave who is being grown up in Zoroastrian society differ from what recognized by the rest of Iranians. In all Zoroastrian rituals and ceremonies are directly related to season changing and each and every month of the year, apart from its role in calendar, could be construed spiritually which is functioning greatly in Old Persian cosmology. The twelve years during which this series is being created; turns into frequent cycle of twelve months of the year; the cycle that begins with the sun entering the asterism of Aries and ends with it exiting the asterism of Pisces. In Persian literature, winter is a metaphor of decay and deterioration to the point where in Old literature cold turns into a ravager demon that must be defeated by a hero. Such stories seem like collected memoires of Major Ice Age (II) that have turned into myths in the mind of people!
The annual battle between winter wickedness and the flourish of spring always ends up with victory of regeneracy and inflorescence. In Old Persian literature, this obvious geological principle has turned into a symbol for belief in the gentility of hopes reigning and insecurity and perishability of tyranny! In his series “Four Seasons” Ave concentrates on poetic expression more than implicit meanings of seasons.
As the artist declares the works in which photographs are being used are more narrative and more related to the aesthetic system of prose; and the more painterly works avoiding straight narration are more like poem; not specified in a language or a culture but poetic idea as a whole.
The series “Four seasons” includes some in-between pieces as well. In these collage works, pieces of photographs and paintings are combined equally and thus reveal the same share of prose and poem.
In Ave’s previous series we could often notice the presentation of Iranian elements and motifs that related the works strongly to the Iranian cultural context; in this series however those known motifs are no longer visual and we observe another level of contextuality. As is something hidden links “Four seasons” to cultural domain of plateau of Iran; something we may call Persian glamor!