Painting Exhibition of Giti Norouzian
One Hundred Percent
A Lyrical Passage into the World of Abstraction
Artist’s Statement- December 8, 2017
(This text was written by Giti Norouzian to accompany her solo exhibition ‘One Hundred Percent’, offering a lyrical and introspective account of her journey through abstraction)
Abstract painting has a particular definition and place in the history of art, which I do not intend to delve into here. It suffices to say that this style resists narration, leans toward form, is relativistic, lacks external references, does not rely on equivalence between identity and essence, form and meaning — and instead, it speaks for itself.
For me, the act of abstract painting is also an active and unknown process — a trance, an oblivion, a One Hundred Percent hidden state. The wide white surface initially seems terrifying, but the ink and color, moving freely on the photo paper, come to my aid. I go along with them; we move forward — a kind of improvisation. Like an “explorer,” I move ahead, not merely as a creator. The splashes of color, the drips, the intricacies of texture are shaped by my inner passion and excitement, and I move forward, seeking, understanding, and discovering the distant territories of my own mind.
Silence brings me visual purity. The forms and colors — accumulated, layered, and fused over the years — now each unfold in their own way, surface, and reveal themselves. A hundred percent from the realm of pure form. This vast surface is no longer a passive bed; it is a space for dialogue. A three-way conversation between the painter, the painting, and the viewer — a dramatic dialogue occurring at every moment, endless, a creative discourse, the peak of visual dialogue. The goal is a mental excavation, both inward and outward. Thus, what was thought to be a hundred percent hidden is discovered — and this discovery is repeated, again and again, with each gaze.
I avoid narration, although avoiding it entirely is not possible for me. The titling of the works attests to my closeness to narrative aspects. The departure from tradition is not absolute; at the same time, I seek the essence of tradition in my own expressive manner — One Hundred Percent internal and hidden. External reality also takes on an internal form. It is as though the images — whether in a somewhat narrative (though not specifically referential) form or in abstraction — are meant to guide the viewer’s mind into the imaginative space of the painting: One Hundred Percent passages to overcome barriers. With the self-expression of the work and the reception of the viewer, a new relationship with reality is formed, and we become aware of One Hundred Percent of freedom.
The experience of freedom is, at first, frightening. Perhaps we — I and the viewer — feel suspended. But this suspension and initial fear are the source of entering a new world, an exciting world. Meaning is also multiple and relative, and with each return, a new interpretation arises in the mind. The viewer completes the work. The position of the observer always influences the result, and this result differs in each viewer’s mind. The decoding is up to them. The nature of the relationship between the artworks and their viewers always appears open and unfinished — and even for me, the painter, remains undiscovered. This fluid suspension is a spiritual experience — a unique experience through an aesthetic lens.