• Basel Social Club 2023

    I'm Here, I'm not Here

  • Dastan is pleased to announce its participation in the upcoming edition of Basel Social Club 2023, with a solo presentation of works by Hoda Kashiha titled “I’m Here, I’m not Here.” The event will be open to the public from June 11, 2023, through June 18, 2023. This will be Dastan’s first presentation at Basel Social Club.

  • “I’m Here, I’m not Here” is a series of works that delves into binary duos: the nuanced interplay between being...
    Hoda Kashiha. I am here, I am not here. 2020. Acrylic on canvas. 150 x 240 cm
    Courtesy of the Artist and the Gallery
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    “I’m Here, I’m not Here” is a series of works that delves into binary duos: the nuanced interplay between being and non-being, presence and absence, certainty and doubt within the human experience.  The series comprises five canvases: three paintings, a diptych, and a mixed media piece (of acrylic, modeling paste, and plexiglass on canvas), each capturing a walking figure in a dual state of being and simultaneously not. Bold and explicit strokes overlay the figures with a vivid, disruptive red or an immersive black. Sometimes the figure is distorted. 

    In the final painting, this duality becomes more playful: the figure appears to have been cut out from paper, and the piece depicts the figure and the remaining parts of the paper. With this collage-like process of marking and censoring the painted image, the artist explores the idea of a ‘power’ covering over ‘the censored material’ and wonders what happens when something is lost only in appearance while being rendered or denoted as non-existent by the power.

    The series symbolizes the cyclical nature of life and death through deliberate repetition. It also prompts contemplation on humanity's ability to acknowledge the existence of the unseen.

    • Hoda Kashiha, I am here, I am not here, 2021
      Hoda Kashiha, I am here, I am not here, 2021
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    • Hoda Kashiha, I am here, I am not here, 2021
      Hoda Kashiha, I am here, I am not here, 2021
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    • Hoda Kashiha, I am here, I am not here, 2021
      Hoda Kashiha, I am here, I am not here, 2021
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  • Hoda Kashiha, Overview

    Hoda Kashiha in her studio, 2023. Photograph by Matin Jameie.

    Courtesy of the Artist.

    Hoda Kashiha

    Overview
    Hoda Kashiha (b. 1986, Tehran, Iran) is a graduate of Painting from the University of Tehran (BA, 2009) and Boston University (MFA, 2014). She received the Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Award; the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center Rare Book Prize; the Iranian Association of Boston Scholarship; and the Boston University Women’s Council Scholarship. She was a fellow at McDowell Colony, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and received the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant at Vermont Studio Center.
    Works of Hoda Kashiha bounce between everyday life and the imagery she sets out to produce. Through a non-linear narrative, dark humor, and mythological, religious, and modern icons, the artist meets with difficult moments in her personal and political life. Drawing references ranging "from Malevich to Instagram" she composes her fragmented narratives. Kashiha uses digital tools to first draw work and then construct it on canvas, layer upon layer. This way of fragmenting motifs nevertheless deals with major contemporary subjects found everywhere, such as gender issues. The body plays a vital role in many of the artist’s works. Through the body, she relates to the world, becomes aware of her desires, and constructs an identity. Drawing the body projects her personal life and the external world. Interestingly in man and woman interaction, she uses various tools (airbrush, i-Pad, stencil) and subjects (body fragments, geometric abstraction) that affect an ambiguity that separates traditional definitions of male-female, resulting in gender fluidity.

  • Installation Views
    Installation view of Hoda Kashiha's I'm Here, I'm not Here, 2022, at Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain, Brest Photo by Aurélien Mole (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Hoda Kashiha's I'm Here, I'm not Here, 2022, at Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Cloître Saint-Merri I & II- Paris Courtesy of Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Hoda Kashiha's I'm Here, I'm not Here, 2022, at Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Cloître Saint-Merri I & II- Paris Courtesy of Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Hoda Kashiha's I'm Here, I'm not Here, 2022, at Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Cloître Saint-Merri I & II- Paris Courtesy of Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Hoda Kashiha's I'm Here, I'm not Here, 2022, at Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Cloître Saint-Merri I & II- Paris Courtesy of Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Hoda Kashiha's I'm Here, I'm not Here, 2022, at Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Cloître Saint-Merri I & II- Paris Courtesy of Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Hoda Kashiha's I'm Here, I'm not Here, 2022, at Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain, Brest
    Photo by Aurélien Mole