Farhad Moshiri (Shiraz, Iran), is well known for his ironic interpretations of hybrids between traditional Iranian forms and those of the consumerist and globalized popular culture widespread Iran. Some of the artists best examples of this: his gold leafed sculpture-furniture installations (Super Love Golden Deluxe); his tapestries embroidered with subjects drawn from contemporary mythology; Moshiri’s large cracked urn paintings decorated with Farsi script reciting lyrics of sentimental popular love songs; or in the case of his last New York exhibition Welcome where the artist turned curator, addresses the packaging tendencies associated with culture brokering and associated consumption. Moshiri asks us to consider what it is that makes a work ethnic, traditional or even contemporary for that matter. Based in Tehran, the artist’s reflections on the visual and cultural productions of the region engage us in a thorough questioning of the dynamics of viewing in a globalized economy of images.

In Sweet Dreams (the third in a series of exhibitions, including Threshold of HAPpiness and Candy Store) the painter entrusts his narration of an increasingly morbid and affected cultural and political climate to a more direct approach – using a cake-icing dispenser to sculpt elaborate patterns on canvas. Despite over-the-top ornamentation, including Swarovski Crystals and Baroque drapery, Moshiri’s paintings maintain a minimalist elegance, while simultaneously questioning the connotations of good taste and the implications of aesthetics as he combines opposites in form and composition, conceptually and visually.