Reza Aramesh

The work of renowned Iranian-born British artist Reza Aramesh exposes the use of power and brutality in a crucial reckoning with European art history and the human condition.

Working across a wide range of materials and processes, in sculpture, photography, sound, and performance, Aramesh examines simultaneously the history of Western European art and contemporary commentary on the politics and history of global conflict zones. He merges a unique visual language to address the contemporary conditions of violence and its precarious relation to mediation.

Aramesh de-contextualises scenes of violence from their origins, exploring the narratives of representation and iconography of the subjected male body in the context of race, class, and sexuality. In doing so, he creates a critical conversation with Western art history.

Reza Aramesh looks at the notion of the historical sublime in art through the filter of contemporary reportage images of violence and horror as portrayed in media and the world of entertainment.