ABBAS KIAROSTAMI IN PORTFOLIO MAGAZINE

Publication

Issue:

May 2005.

Published by:

Portfolio Magazine in conjunction with Abbas Kiarostami: Visions of the Artist.

Introduction:

Since 1988 Portfolio has published a broad range of photography by the world's leading artists who exhibit in the UK, as well as innovative portfolios by emerging talents. The magazine encompasses all photographic genres and aims to be informative and challenging. The magazine publishes two issues per year and each issue features work from at least 15 artists reproduced to catalogue standard.

The May 2005 issue will include eight images by Abbas Kiarostami, accompanied with an essay by Amna Malik of the Slade School of Art at UCL. In her essay Amna discusses the striking similarity between Kiarostami's photographs and the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, and the manner in which the former evoke all the obsessive attention to detailed texture and the abstraction of forms into geometric structures that emerge again and again in the earlier artist's paintings like The Winter Landscape. 'To make this observation may seem odd to many for whom Kiarostami's films are synonymous with the cultural life of post-revolutionary Iran. In these photographs there is the same stark aesthetic found in his films: the long-shot of a car driving through an empty landscape in The Taste of Cherry comes to mind. Yet there are also differences: nature caught at a certain season suggesting a mood and its evocation through repetition are key factors that distinguish these images from Kiarostami's practice as a filmmaker. The most obvious and startling difference is the deliberately non-narrative aspect of this body of images. Kiarostami's stripped down vision moves from infinite regress to accelerated proximity and all within the static image of the photograph.' (Amna Malik).

Images:

For a selection of the images presented in May 2005 issue of Portfolio click on 'Image Gallery' on the left hand column of this page.

Subscription rates:

19 GBP and 25 GBP (one year).

Information and subscription:

44 131 2201911, info@portfoliocatalogue.com, www.portfoliocatalogue.com.

Kiarostami festival:

This programme is part of a London-wide programme of events entitled Abbas Kiarostami: Visions of the Artist celebrating the achievements of this artist and his impact on contemporary culture and society.