Details:

This tapestry of layered patterns employs felt fabric and thread to juxtapose deep shadows with bright light. For the artist, the act of connecting two points with thread serves as a metaphor for her identity as an Iranian immigrant—and evokes the artist's emotional connection to belonging.
Framed: 13.5 x 13.5 x 1.5 in.

① Artwork:

Twelve12views 02

This tapestry of layered patterns employs felt fabric and thread to juxtapose deep shadows with bright light. This work is part of a series by the artist that investigates how depth is made through contrast and how it can suggest different picture planes. In this composition, Gholizadeh combines weaving and needlepointing while staying within a framework of horizontal and vertical lines; the resulting work resembles a pixelated image.

The artist's work frequently explores the idea of borders and boundaries. For Gholizadeh, the act of connecting two points with thread serves as a metaphor for her identity as an Iranian immigrant—and evokes the artist's emotional connection to belonging. The artist is drawn to repetitive art-making processes with both expressive and meditative qualities. Her work explores landscape and the body, as well as the fragmentation of memory.

Specs:

12 inches
12 inches
1.5 inches
12 inches
with frame
13.5 inches
13.5 inches
1.5 inches
13.5 inches

③ Artist:

Azadeh Gholizadeh

After practicing as an architect for several years, Azadeh Gholizadeh was drawn to artmaking for its repetitive and meditative qualities. The artist’s multimedia practice encompasses textiles and sculpture and draws influence from Persian gardens and the storytelling aspects of Persian architecture. Gholizadeh’s work explores borders and boundaries, as well as the artist’s emotional connection to belonging—creating a dialogue between landscape, body, memory and craft.

BIO:

Azadeh Gholizadeh was born in Tehran, Iran. The artist received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois in 2012; a Masters of Architecture and Urbanism from Iran University of Science & Technology in Tehran, Iran in 2009; and a Bachelor of Architecture from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, Iran in 2006.

Solo exhibitions of Gholizadeh’s work include: Dawn to Dusk at Goldfinch in Chicago, Illinois; Oh, Swallow where do you live in Winter? at Apparatus Projects in Chicago, Illinois; and Withing the Threshold at Chicago Artist Coalition’s Bolt Space in Chicago, Illinois.

Group exhibitions that have shown Gholizadeh’s work include: Ten x Ten at Homeroom in Collaboration with Chicago Composers Orchestra in Chicago, Illinois; a show curated by Claudine Ise at Riverside Art Center in Riverside, Illinois; a show curated by Nazafarin Lotfi at Everybody Gallery in Chicago, Illinois; Outliers, curated by Ambereen Karamat and Lee Ann Norman at the Franklin in Chicago, Illinois; Transistors, curated by Ariel Gentalen at Ralph Arnold Gallery in Chicago, Illinois; After Junkspace at Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation in Chicago, Illinois; This is the place, curated by Elizabeth Lalley at ACRE in Chicago, Illinois; Artificial Life, curated by Meg Noe at the Chicago Artist Coalition in Chicago, Illinois; Reproducibles at Museo de Arte de Armenia in Armenia, Colombia; and Reproducibles at Espacio el Dorado of Bogota in Bogota, Colombia.

In 2021, Gholizadeh was a finalist for the Hopper Prize. In 2020, the artist was a finalist for the Chicago Artadia Award and the American Mulism Futures award. In 2017, Gholizadeh was the recipient of a Brenda Green Gender Inclusivity Scholarship for participation in the ACRE Residency program.

Gholizadeh lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.

Azadeh Gholizadeh:
Twelve12views 02, 2020
Hand-needlepoint silk, linen, merino wool in canvas mesh
12.0 × 12.0 × 1.5 inches /