by Barbara Morris
Centuries before Leonardo da Vinci lived and worked in Italy, a Persian astronomer, physician, geographer, and writer was conducting research into the nature of the cosmos and man’s place in it. Zakariyya al-Qazwini (d. 1283) wrote and illustrated The Wonders of Creation and Rarities of Existence, a remarkable 13th century document cataloging the earth, the heavens, and the many forms of life. This fall, the San Diego Museum of Art will take the beautifully-illustrated text as a point of departure for an exhibition of works of art, texts, scientific instruments, magic bowls, and commissioned works by contemporary artists Hayv Kahraman and Ala Ebtekar.
Ala Ebtekar, Berkeley-based, is the child of Iranian immigrants, and Hayv Kahraman is an Iraqi refugee now based in Los Angeles. Kahraman has used science and geometry, including work with 3D scanning and mapping, using the female body—her own—as subject and object in her large-scale paintings using the figure. Often writhing or contorted, the images explore issues of identity and othering.
The “sense of wonder,” with its emphasis on cosmology, the nature of the universe, is truly at the core of Ebtekar’s recent work. Coming from a background in painting, Ala Ebtekar received his BA from the San Francisco Art Institute and his MFA from Stanford, where he now teaches. The artist has pivoted to more conceptual work and process-oriented techniques, often inspired by the night sky and images brought to Earth via the Hubble telescope. A beautiful immersive tile installation, Luminous Ground (2018/2020), created for San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, presents the cyanotype process as a type of alchemy—using light and time to transform organic substances into a new form, tiles, the reddish color of the earth shifting to a deep, indigo blue.
When I recently spoke with Ebtekar, the artist had just returned from travels including a trip to Dubai, where he had a recent exhibition The Sky of the Seven Valleys, at Third Line Gallery. It is fitting that Ebtekar, the great-nephew of an esteemed Iranian poet, Amir Hushang Ebtehaj, framed many of his responses in a poetic fashion. For the PST show, Ebtekar shares that he is working on a project utilizing photogravure and copper etching plates, and imagery of the sun. Underlying the work is an ancient story, he recounts one version told by Jalal Rumi about a contest between two teams of artists, one Chinese, and one Roman, working for the favor of a Persian king. By polishing their own wall to reflect the arduous labors of the beautiful waterfall painted by the other, one clever team clearly finesses the situation. Ebtekar’s fifteen 36” x 24” copper plates will mesh in a wall installation likewise presenting the viewer not only with a striking composite image of the sun, but as well with their own reflected images.
Since ancient times, the sun has inspired awe and offered inspiration to many, embodying the very essence of optimism. Ebtekar states, “I see my work as a journey towards truth, a way to illuminate the path ahead. In these dark times, I search for the morning light that brings hope.” Often we are driven to produce at a rapid pace, with more, bigger, and faster viewed as our ultimate goals. As suggested by the the text and intricate illustrations of the book, the meditative objects, and thought-provoking works on display, it can be equally valuable to slow down, step back, and reflect, to allow our consciousness to drift for a bit in the shifting currents of perception.
Sense of Wonder Innovation in the Islamic World originally appeared in Artillery Sept/Oct 2024 issue.