Rhapsody: Reflections

DAVOOD ROOSTAEI (1959-2023)

Rhapsody: Reflections

signed and dated 'R. DAVOOD 2022' (lower left); titled and dated again 'Rhapsody: Reflections in 2022' (on the reverse)

acrylic on canvas

40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm)

framed: 41 x 31 inches (104.1 x 78.7 cm)

Painted in 2022.

PROVENANCE:

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

NOTES:

“As ‘reality’ couldn’t speak to the complexities of the modern world, the brush couldn’t do what I needed it to do”

-Davood Roostaei

Davood Roostaei (1959-2023) was born in Malayer, Iran and studied at Tehran’s Academy of Fine Arts in the late 1970s until the Islamic Revolution upended Iranian creative life. Opposed to the new order and, as a pacifist, to its war with Iraq, Roostaei turned to the overtly political art form of graffiti – and was imprisoned for two years under notoriously harsh conditions for anti-regime activities. After his release, he realized that he needed to find a new way to express himself, which led him to create a style he dubbed Cryptorealism, which blended reality and imagination to create a surreal, dreamlike world.

Roostaei’s technique involved using his fingers rather than a brush to create a more direct connection to his art. His work reflected the fragmentation of the world, with images referencing the past, present, and future. He remained political to his last days, donating a portion of the proceeds from his art to various causes internationally. As an innovative and visionary artist, his works were exhibited in international art fairs and museums across Europe, China, and America.

In Rhapsody: Reflections, 2022, Roostaei draws the viewer in to reflect along with him on the nature of female solidarity; the appreciation women can have for one another; as well as the ways in which women seem to have a deep and fulsome connection to nature.