Kamran Diba’s cosmopolitan view of the world is reflected in recent paintings. There is no focus on local or national issues in choosing the themes and narratives. He assumes the news to be the “heart beat of human activity on earth, without it the indication of life on the earth seizes to exist” . He does not, however, focus on issues like various modes and approaches in news broadcasting, objectivity or lack of it, taking stance, and mind control through media. Regardless of the content of “global news”, he does not consider his work as being political. He believes that unlike artistic creation, politics is an issue of transient nature. The newspaper format is seemingly used as a ready-made template for painting. Even an echo of Formalist developments in Western art history might be traced in the general tendency of these series of paintings towards abstraction. In the present show the drawings have become much more simple and geometric. The previous realistic renderings have been replaced by abbreviated, geometric drawings. It is more difficult to guess about the themes and narratives, and the references have become more laconic. Major news events such as war, economy, politics and so on, are coded in pure, primary colours on the white canvas ground.
Kamran Diba’s ties to Iranian Art history are multiple and intense and his profound effect on the formative years of Iranian modern art movement is undeniable. In the same way, the course of his artistic practice strongly reflects the ups and downs of Iranian contemporary Art.
Helia Darabi – September 2014

Exhibition catalog: http://www.aarangallery.com/publications/catalog-news-clippings/