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Brian Gross Fine Art

November 3 - December 24, 2011

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49 Geary Street 5th Floor San Francisco, CA 94108
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Portals Hadi Tabatabai, Thread Painting 2011-1, 2011, thread, acrylic paint, wood, 48 x 40 5/8 inches
Opening reception: Thursday, November 3, 5:30 - 7:30pm Brian Gross Fine Art is pleased to announce the second solo exhibition of works by San Francisco artist, Hadi Tabatabai, opening on Thursday, November 3rd with a reception for the artist from 5:30-7:30pm. The works included in Portals represent a continuation of Tabatabai’s exploration of the line as a physical space. The artist’s trademark thread paintings, a combination of drawing, painting, and sculpture, investigate perception of space and invites self-reflection. On view through December 23, 2011. Hadi Tabatabai’s “paintings” function as portals into the physical space of the work as well as a portal for self-contemplation. Space for Tabatabai, is defined as “empty space. It’s not this or that.” At first glance, the work appears two dimensional, however upon closer inspection, the sculptural quality of the work is revealed through the play of positive and negative space. Art historian Peter Lodermeyer remarks, “With a seeing eye and vigilant mind you can dream yourself right into the works by Hadi Tabatabai, which need not refer to anything other than their precise, patient state of having been created, in order to activate the poetics of the interior.” Tabatabai creates work that is empty of human drama, producing a meditative experience. Hadi Tabadabai was born in Mashhad, Iran, in 1964 and immigrated to the United States in 1977. He received a B.S. in Industrial Technology from Fresno State University (1985) and a B.F.A. in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute (1995). His work has been shown widely in Bonn, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Turin and can be found in the collections of The Achenbach Foundation at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware, The Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico, The Progressive Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, and Werner Kramarsky, New York City, among others. Tabatabai recently received a Pollock-Krasner Grant (2008) and has been an artist in residence at the Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, California (2007), affiliate artist at the Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2006-2007), and artist in residence in 2010.