Gita Meh
I examine how identity
is shaped by differences in language, gender, ethnicity and culture, desire,
exile, solitude and freedom. I
allow each spectator to re-create his or her own experience of my created
cross-cultural spaces. My art adds
a new substance to multiculturalism, giving advancement to the nearing of
cultural differences between East and West. My
work introduces a dialog that critiques the human form, human word and the
human home. My art speaks about
distributions of cultures. I
take the initiative using my cross-cultural resources to achieve a broader form
of integration.
My work creates visual
thinking. I understand my initial impulse
to form and word. I work on
diverse canvases of textural material. Female bodies transfigure from nude to veiled into Alpha beta. Woman’s
removed body hair becomes surrounding walls. Onions become an abundance of nourishing breasts. Glitter is
brushed as if paint. Scanner
becomes my digital camera. Sugar
becomes a projection screen as images melt. Hand painted fountain tiles become architectural facades.
Persian carpets become my white canvas. Painted laptops convert to flying carpets. Koranic verse becomes running horses. Fresh apples become paintings and hang
from the ceiling till they disintegrate in time. I describe my own identity, my cross-integration of Theology
and Technology. I fire clay homes
to build my own cities. And food
becomes digestible art. As I
express my visual vocabulary in a desire to point dot by dot to contemporary
Islam and the west in this present.
In 1979 the Islamic Revolution marked for me the beginning
of a new avant-garde forms of visual expression in Iran. It was in 1983 during Iran Iraq War
that my parents had to migrate to the West. Where I continued to study and pursuit art. My ongoing body of work deconstructs my
Middle Eastern culture with my western education to
reconstruct and reinforce the best of both traditions. My work promotes multiculturalism by
using visual and written languages as tools to form a space of human
interaction and cultural integration. I draw from my personal history and
its implications in modern Middle Eastern society to reconstruct the notion of Islamic art through conceptual art.
Solo Exhibitions
2008 From Line To Text, Phantom
Galleries LA, Los Angeles, CA
Tashkeel Gallery, Ways of Veiling, Dubai, UAE Soffreh, Meaning Tablecloth In
Farsi, Jam Jar Gallery, Dubai, UAE
Migratory Patterns, Hoor Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2007 Metaoracle, paintings, Gallery One, Beyond Persia, San
Francisco, CA
2006 Soffreh, slide installation, IMAN, Los Angeles, CA
Passage, paintings, Seyhoun Gallery,
Los Angeles, CA
Metamorphosis, paintings, Athens Art Space, Athens, Greece
2005 No Stopping In Searching, paintings, Polytropon Gallery, Kalamata, Greece
How
A House Became Home & Home A Temple,
paintings, Los Angeles, CA
2003 Soffreh, food installation, Inmo Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Soffreh, permanent installation, Watt Plaza, Los Angeles, CA
Soffreh, food installation, Inmo Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2002 Chadoor Study, paintings & installations, SheatStudio, Los
Angeles, CA
1999 Say Ya Ali Then
Exit On Exile, paintings, Khane-ye
Honarmandan-e Iran
1996 From Virtual To
Reality, installation, Main Gallery,
Valencia, CA
Soffreh: Meaning Tablecloth, installation, Gallery D301, Valencia, CA
1995 Removal & Regrowth, open studio, Valencia, CA
1994 Walls Veils & Words, Gallery D2, Valencia, CA
1992 Families In Frames, Gallery D3, Valencia, CA
1991 Wounded Wishes &
Wind, paintings, Art Gallery, Den Huge,
Nederland’s
1990 I Formed My Arch, paintings, Gallery Shilling, Schorndorf, Germany
Group Exhibition
2008 Vibrations Withtin, Tashkeel Gallery,
Dubai, UAE
This Is Me, Jam Jar Gallery, Dubai Art
Fair, UAE
Alef Ba Meaning Alphabet, XVA Gallery,
Creek Art Fair, Dubai, UAE
Arabian Home Show, Dubai, UAE
Poetics, Contemporary Museum of Art,
MOCA Tehran, Eight Biennale of Iranian Painters, Tehran, Iran
Be Creative, Dubai Ladies Club, Dubai, UAE
In The Streets of Liberty,
Gallery One, San Francisco, CA
2007 Work and Survivor, Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA at the Geffen
Contemporary, Audio installation, Project Susan Lacy, Los Angeles, CA
In the Hanging Garden, Municipal Art
Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Fragments and Colors, Regent
Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
From
Kabba to N.Y, Red Dot Gallery, Los Angeles,
CA
2006 Unusual, Seyhoun Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2005 Seven Sins, Pacific Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA
2004 Apple, paintings & installation, Merging One Gallery,
Santa Monica, CA
2003 Trilingual Prayer, video installation, 18th street Arts
Complex, Santa Monica, CA
Soffreh, video installation, Freewaves, Los Angeles, CA
2003 Chadoor, performance art, Cross Roads, Los Angeles, CA
2002 Chadoor, performance, Japanese American National Museum, Los
Angeles, CA
2001 Overflowing, AlefBa
meaning Alphabet, Bergamot Station, Los
Angeles, CA
1997 Semi Skin, video projection, LETIT BE, Film & Video
Festival, Los Angeles, CA
1995 Black Novel in Argentina: A Novel by Luisa Valenzuela, art director, Ensemble
Theater II, Valencia, CA
1994 Selected Paintings, Soffitel Hotel, Los Angeles, CA
1993 Title me not, Women Exhibition, Tehran, Iran
1991 Simorgh, Contemporary Museum of Art, MOCA Tehran, First
Biennial of Iranian Painters, Tehran, Iran
1990 Iranian Art Expo, Selected paintings, Tehran, Iran
Curatorial
2009 Global Migration, A group exhibition, Phantom Galleries LA, TBA, CA
2007 Migration Study, A group exhibition, Phantom galleries LA, Los
Angeles, CA
Publications
2007 Sin, Cover Art, Book of Poetry, Poems of Forugh
Farokhzad, Translated by Sholeh Wolpe
2005 At Time Attar,
At Time at Far, Persian Heritage,
Poem, Vol. 10, No. 40 Winter, Passaic, NJ
2001 Alefba Meaning
Alphabet, Limited Edition, Los Angeles, CA
1982 Alefba, Children’s book, Vezarate Ershade Eslami, Tehran,
Iran
Reviews
2008 Gulf News, Jan 9, pg. 16, 17, Dubai, UAE
Gulf Today, Jan 7,
pg.4, Dubai, UAE
Khalij Times, Jan 7,
pg. 8, Dubai, UAE
Al Fajr, Jan 7, pg. 4,
Dubai, UAE
Al Ittehad, Jan 7, pg.
9, Dubai, UAE
Al Bayan, Jan 3, pg.
26, Dubai, UAE
Khalij Times, Jan 9,
pg. 8, Dubai, UAE
Al Khalij, Jan 3, pg.
31, Dubai, UAE
Emarat Al Youm, Jan 6,
pg.28, Dubai, UAE
Al Bayan, Jan 7, pg.
37, Dubai, UAE
Khalij Times, Jan 8,
pg. 2, Dubai, UAE
2007 LA Weekly, Pick of the week, Migration Study, Peter Frank, September 6,
Los Angeles, CA
Downtown News, Migration
Study, August, Los Angeles, CA
Utube, Migration
Study, Online Magazine, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Peter Frank, Inscribing the Body, Exhibition Catalogue, Passage, November 6, pg. 2,
Los Angeles, CA
Art In America, March, N.Y, N.Y
Reviews in Athens News & other leading art publications, April
9, Athens, Greece
Reviews in Athens News & other leading art publications, April 10,
Athens, Greece
Reviews in Athens
News & other leading art publications, April 11, Athens, Greece
Reviews in Athens
News & other leading art publications, April 12, Athens, Greece
Reviews in Athens
News & other leading art publications, April 13, Athens, Greece
2005 George Zymarakis, Birth
of A Star, Gallery Guide, November, pgs. 9,
34, 35, Athens, Greece
Gioula Sardeli, Every Window Has A Story, Freedom Newspaper, October, 13, pg, 2, 10, Athens,
Greece
Anna Resbani, When Paintings Travel,
Current Affairs, October, 12, pg. 2, 10, Kalamata, Greece
Anna Resbani, Gita Sees the Beauty Of The World & Turns that
Knowing Into Paintings, Current Affairs,
October, 13, pgs. 2, 10, Greece
2003 American theater, 9/11;
Polls Assess the Impact, June, pg. 10, Los
Angeles, CA
2002 National Woman’s Review, Chadoor
Study, pg. 91, Los Angeles, CA
Don Shirley, An Evening Of Drama Clocked In
SEP11, December, 22, pg. F8, Los Angeles
Times, CA
2001 Norman Klein, Emptiness
Digitalized
1997 Joan Hugo, The Speaking
Body And The Disembodied Voice, Forum of
Art And Technology, pg. 8, Los Angeles, CA
1994 Amnesty International, Calendar, January, pg. 12, Den Hague, Nederland
1992 MRM, Menshen Rechten
Magazine, March, Back Cover, Den Hague,
Nederland
Koshyar Parsi, Poetic Bullets,
Kelk; A review of Art and Culture, February, pgs. 244, 245, 246, Tehran, Iran
ABR, March 31, pg. 10, Den Hague, Nederland
Andreas Krobberger, Fremdliche Botschaften, Schorndorfer Stadtnachrichten September 15, pg. 15, Schorndorf, Germany
Art
and Artist In Judgment, Keyhan Havaye,
January 3, pg. 21, London, England
1991 Cultures Integrated In
Paintings, Reiner Shauz, The Stuttgarter
Zeitung, January 6, pg. 5, Stuttgart, Germany
1991 Movement, Upheaval,
Chaos, Keyhan-e Havaye, October 3, pg. 21,
London, England
1990 Beauty Is Truth, Steve Snyder, Stuttgart Citizen, November 2, pg. 5,
Stuttgart, Germany
Broadcast Interviews
2008 Decision Makers, Nile SAT, Dubai, UAE
2007 Your LA, NBC News,
Channel Five, Matt Gleson, July, Los Angeles, CA
Homa Sarshar, KIRN
Radio, 26 June, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Firouzeh Khatibi, Radio Farda, December 10, Los Angeles, CA
Kio Hojati, Pars
times.com, November 20, Los Angeles, CA
2005 Net TV, Cultural
News, October 9, Kalamata, Greece
Sohrab Akhavan, Radio
Iran, April 20, Los Angeles, CA
Firouzeh Khatibi, Radio Farda, April 12, Los Angeles, CA
2004 N. Nazemian, 670.AM, 24 Hours Radio, Los Angeles, CA
2003 Faribourz M. Radio Iran, Studio interview, Los Angeles, CA
2003 Pari Esfandiari, IranDokht Online Women Magazine, Los Angeles, CA
2002 Faribourz, 670.AM, Voice of Iran, Los Angeles, CA
1998 Iran Cultural News, TV interview, Tehran, Iran
1994 Shohre Aghdashlou, Interview, TV, Los Angeles, CA
1992 Seda Va Semaye Jomhouri Iran, TV interview, Hamburg Germany
1991 Seda Va Semaye Jomhouri Eslami Iran, TV interview, Hamburg, Germany
1990 Iran Art News, Islamic Republic on Iran, Radio, Tehran, Iran
Grants & Scholarships
2006 Watt Industries, 2002-2006, Sponsor, Mr. James Scott Watt, One of the Founders of Contemporary Museum of Art,
MOCA Los Angeles, CA
1997 Lulu May &
Richard Von Hagen
1996 California
Institute of the Arts
Ahmenson Foundation
California Institute of
the Arts
1994 National Art
Association
1993 California
Institute of the Arts
1992 Irvine Foundation
1991 Cultural Attaché
of Iran, Köln, Germany
1990 Cultural Attaché
of Iran, Köln, Germany
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