Exhibition:
Hoch wie nie: imaginary landscapes and the creatures who live there
Two person exhibition featuring Leila Seyedzadeh & Marlene Bart
May 21, 2022 to July 9, 2022

GALERIE Peter Gaugy is pleased to present a two-person exhibition featuring the work of Leila Seyedzadeh and Marlene Bart. Each of these artists is exploring very different positions in contemporary art, yet a common quality they share is that both use research and gather artistic materials to assemble their work rather than filling in details from a broader statement. In this way the details matter, and gives each of their pieces more of the quality of thoughtful reflection, intimacy, and a sense of discovery.
Leila Seyedzadeh



Leila Seyedzadeh’s work uses a visual poetic language that focuses on indirect reference and landscapes immersed in a sense of placelessness. Influenced by Persian miniatures, her much larger textile works are richly detailed using multiple visual elements that hint at mountainous forms and integrate non-western compositional techniques, relying on a layering of patterned shapes, rather than a depth of vision to convey mass and space.
In this exhibition, her landscape “paintings” are created using a variety of hand-dyed fabrics from Iran, including fragments of chador namaz, a light-colored indoor garment with patterned details worn by women during prayer, Persian wool termeh from Isfahan, silk and cotton textiles, and delicate fringe.
In one piece she has interwoven fragments of a paper envelope sent by her brother with visible words that include Tehran, New York, Iran, and Brooklyn symbolizing the dual and conflicting nature of her identity.Leila Seyedzadeh assembles these materials into the appearance of landscapes, carefully arranging the various patterns into a collage-like composition before sewing everything in. This handwork is vital to her process and helps unite her work in New York with the artisans of the original fabrics. Her work uses a visual poetic language that focuses on indirect reference and landscapes immersed in a sense of placelessness. Influenced by Persian miniatures, her much larger textile works are richly detailed using multiple visual elements that hint at mountainous forms and integrate non-western compositional techniques, relying on a layering of patterned shapes, rather than a depth of vision to convey mass and space.
A long tradition of Iranian art relies on visual metaphors over direct representation to depict meaning, and her work carries within it deep memories of a rich and vibrant culture that sustains her, even as her career as an artist has taken her far from home. Her paintings hold a poetic longing for a more understanding and nuanced world.
Leila Seyedzadeh received her MFA from Yale University of Art in 2019 and is currently teaching art at the Pratt Institute in New York City.
Leila Seyedzadeh was interviewed by the Italian art magazine Art a Part of Culture Magazine for her participation in this exhibition.
Here is a link to the article (in Italian):