A Note on Giti Norouzian’s Exhibition at Shamis Gallery
Hafez Rouhani- April 17, 2025
Pain and Constriction
(translated into English by AI)
Foad Najmedin, curator of the exhibition “The Red Parrots”, which presents a collection of works by Giti Norouzian at Shamis Gallery, points to two key ideas that can serve as a guide for viewing the exhibited pieces. His text not only sets a path to follow the works, but also, through reference to the famous tale of the parrot and the merchant, offers a layer of meaning—an interpretive lens through which to view what is on the gallery walls.
If we take the phrase “the passing down of traits,” which is the opening line of the curator’s note, as our point of departure, we might find room to go further and attribute additional interpretations to the works. However, before focusing on the idea of traits being passed across generations—as emphasized by the curator—it may be best to first turn to the artworks themselves and, without layers of interpretation, describe what is visually presented. The first thing that catches the eye is the artist’s vigorous, expressive brushstrokes, which retain their intensity even in the most aesthetically pleasing moments. These strokes add a sense of rawness and primal energy to Norouzian’s body of work. Her expressive gestures are complemented by a limited color palette in most of the works, further enhancing that raw, almost primal quality. The three-dimensional piece on display, which resembles an inverted tree trunk, reinforces the connection to nature—seemingly the origin of this primal energy. From this angle, Najmedin’s reference to traits and their transmission appears to affirm that the works allude specifically to the untamed life of nature.
The red patches seen in most of the paintings serve as a unifying motif throughout the exhibition, linking the pieces through the artist’s consistent treatment of tools and media, and preserving a coherent sense across the series. These red stains—which also inspire the exhibition’s title, The Red Parrots—can sometimes be interpreted as images of parrots and other times as shapeless, abstract splashes of color. In the latter case, the viewer encounters abstract forms suggesting natural inspiration. However, in another group of works (especially some of the smaller pieces), one can clearly identify the parrot figures and heads. In the rest, it’s harder to claim the red stains depict parrots; rather, it seems the artist remains more faithful to an impression drawn from nature than to literal representations of parrots or identifiable animal or plant forms.
In the more abstract works, the brushstrokes, expressiveness, and sense of primitivism lead to canvases full of visual events and varied details that invite the viewer into a realm of imagination—works that seem to have inspired the curator’s accompanying text as well. In contrast, the figurative pieces appear somewhat uncertain in their development of an aesthetic language. That is to say, the figures in these works seem to serve, on the one hand, a decorative function, and on the other, add a touch of lyricism. Yet whenever the artist distances herself from figuration and delves further into exploring her expressive tools, she presents more compelling outcomes to her audience. From this perspective, her varied approaches to subject matter and visual space tend to be more successful the closer they get to abstraction, rather than leaning toward figuration. Thus, I personally prefer to interpret Foad Najmedin’s reference to “The searing trace of hardship and pain …” as being more reflective of the collection as a whole—works that, even in their execution and use of expressive tools, depict pain and constraint more profoundly than the figures themselves.
The “Red Parrots” exhibition, featuring works by Giti Norouzian and curated by Foad Najmedin at Shamis Gallery, presents a body of paintings that are thematically, conceptually, and emotionally interconnected. Executed with a relatively unified approach and a shared palette, the works evoke a similar mood in the viewer.
In this sense, what the artist has portrayed not only reflects her various perspectives on the subject, tools, and atmosphere, but also reveals a progression discernible across the collection. From this angle, it appears that Norouzian, in her quest to discover and understand her visual language, has achieved certain breakthroughs in this series—successes that could enrich her future work. Specifically, when she relinquishes her concern with figuration and works freely between abstraction and representation, she employs her tools with greater liberty, allowing a wide spectrum of emotions—from expressionism to primitivism, from pain and constraint to lyricism and imagination—to emerge vividly in her art.