Eve Blossoms 99
In Shokoufeh Karimi’s artworks, all and everything is flowing in a constant chaos: the lines, surfaces, faces, human and animal figures and the shadows standing out among the chaos. This is a general description on complicated and introverted artworks of an artist whom considers painting as an endless dialogue in order to extract all her complex inner and all her unanswered questions.
Her demand is beyond the unconscious depth which burrows into the psychological destiny of mankind but it appears to be a painting as a human virtue that is set up on decorations and poetry. More than depending on western rational orders of painting, she is involved in intuitive depth of Iranian art.The poetical features in her drawings are thoroughly expressed, they also coexist with some manuscripts at the sides of the works. She is fed with the excited feelings to be able to translate the words to painting.
The artist’s portrait accompanied by her little daughter -in different forms- in her artworks are manifestation of her deep love towards her daughter and “motherhood”. A provocative and seductive woman- appearing calm outwardly- who is wandering in an unsecure and shadowy world.
On the one hand, history of traditions of an eastern artist has been deeply penetrated in her as if it is engraved as ethics in her mind. That means using too much ornaments, decorations, fear of vacant spaces in her canvas and her true commitment to materials. Silence is rarely found in her frames and in spite of her interest towards imaginary worlds, she is not able to compromise reality and get rid of it.
She tends to put round, triple canvases -sometimes weird in proportions- into practice, this may demonstrate how she prefers to seek harmony in diverse geometrical artwork foundations so that she ends up in sort of moderation is her outlooks.
In spite of too much chaotic crowd in her works, Shokoufeh Karimi should not be placed among “Narrative” artist, in fact the narration in her works seems quite different from the ones in tradition Iranian painting borrowed from literature. What exists as narration in her artworks is only a poetical dialogue. Although They are lent against poetics, dexterity and hidden geometrics and she has been viewed as an Iranian artist, the artist has made her way away from classical storytelling and dramas. After a long journey, she is standing at a new pinnacle with her commitment to painting regulations behind, and a new universe ahead. The universe which is a fortifying guide for her personal sensitivities. Karimi would find her seat as an author if she could reach out for current visual facts in between the past and the future.
By Maryam Roshanfekr
June ,2021
