Kazem Heydari splits his paintings into two diverse artistic impulses, and strikes a balance between tableaus of human drama and explorations into color and mood. He transforms real-world settings into panes of primary and secondary/tertiary colors, while also stripping the paintings’ main subjects of all color. This two-fold manipulation increases the painting’s “snapshot” effect: the subjects are frozen in time and suspended within abstract blocks of color, or perhaps they are rifts in the composition itself. These rudimentary figures are not blank slates, however, but a means by which Kazem engages in a radically modern aesthetic: he presents us with subjects that are both present and absent.
Stephen Bracco