Press Release
O Gallery presents “New York Times Sketchbooks (1996 - 1999)” a series of works by Brooklyn-based artist, Nicky Nodjumi (b. 1942 Kermanshah, Iran), whose practice reflects socio-political concerns within a personal framework. The works on display are drawn from his ongoing series created on the front pages of The New York Times. The series began in 1996, at a time when the artist could not afford painting materials. Living
and working in the same loft in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter, he was also unable to use oil paints or solvents in a domestic environment.
The project did not initially begin with the intention of using The New York Times as a surface. As Nodjumi explains, it started on a day when he ran out of drawing paper and began working directly on the newspaper
he read daily. What began as a practical decision gradually evolved into a sustained body of drawings and paintings executed on shellacked newspaper pages. The artist kept the series private until 2019, when he presented a selection of these works for the first time at Helena Anrather Gallery.
The series is mostly includes of figurative works that emphasize on distancing human-made dualities portraying disturbing relationship of humans as man, woman, figures of authorities, minors or other forced roles. Nodjumi’s social sensitivity toward the depiction of contemporary political realities, and toward the role of art in times of crisis, distinguishes his practice. Having lived under the shadow of both tyranny and secular authority, his work reflects an enduring engagement with structures of power and their impact on individual lives to highlight that the personal is always political.
Selected Works
