O Gallery presents “Open Wiring,” a collection of works by Jinoos Taghizadeh (b. 1971, Tehran). The works on display embody the artist’s mental preoccupation for the past six years, implemented in a variety of different mediums. Though they may seem unrelated at first, they are all deeply connected conceptually and semantically. In a way, the title “Open Wiring” chosen for this exhibition refers to the disability and distress in finding a fundamental solution to the current disordered situation. It’s as though the solution can’t be anything but accepting and giving into temporary remedies, knowing that short-term solutions will eventually result into much bigger problems, a metaphor for the current general situation, the artist’s own condition, her lieu, and the society’s and art’s status; a condition so disordered and damaged, rotten and unreliable in its underlying layers that the only way to survive it is through temporary remedies and short-term solutions.
Even though the basis for the creation of the current exhibition has to be examined within the political and social context of Iran, the artist’s residing country, Taghizadeh’s references are a collection of parallel similar conditions in different histories and geographies. Occasionally, it can be a reference to familiar images, news, and even scientific documents about different species that deliberately and by choice welcome failure and death. For instance amongst the works on display is a book from the series “Once Upon A Time,” a popup book inspired by children books. But unlike those books, here there are no fairytales and the protagonists don’t end up living happily ever after. Similarly, there are images of other characters that are not after winning but at the end choose an honorable defeat. Characters such as Dalal Mughrabi, a Palestinian martyr that declares the first state of Palestine on a bus, Smith, a long distance runner or Gloria in “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Ibrahim in Fereydoun Goleh’s “Beehive,” the rare 52-hertz whale, the riot dog in Greece that turns into a symbol of battle …. From an overall perspective, all of these and other parts of the exhibition represent the artist’s view of good, evil and choice.
Jinoos Taghizadeh was born in Tehran in 1971. She studied graphic design in high school and then went on to study literature while working in theatre (costume and setting design) and puppet shows. She also has a bachelor degree in sculpture from the Tehran University of Art. For the past twenty years, Jinoos Taghizadeh has had a continuous presence in video, installation and performance and has participated in numerous exhibitions. As her resume illustrates, she is the kind of artist that doesn’t limit herself to just one media and uses whatever best expresses her thoughts. In addition, she has worked with different magazines as an art critic.